The Jasmine Dragon
by PonySparks
Summary: Iroh goes to Equestria. How will he fare?
1. Chapter 1

A feminine face coalesces from mists that seem to stretch on forever, her eyes glow a faint blue against the background of an unmoving porcelain white mask. "The noble fat man, Iroh, son of Azulon has pleased me greatly." Her melodious voice proclaimed, echoing through the void.

"He uses his gift to defend life, to promote peace and balance regardless of whom it is which disturbs that balance. Most importantly of all, he defended one of our own; the incarnation of Moon made flesh and held his fellow fire benders back to give the time needed for her rebirth."

Towering above her, four green eyes blazed into life, illuminating the fog as it parted in front of its colossal craggy face. "The blaze amongst the lotus has done very well for himself indeed," its resonating voice boomed, cacophonous as an avalanche, "he earns favour before the stone as well, Bowu. His loyalty to the son of his brother is commendable, possibly misplaced though it might be. He brings power and wisdom, a rare combination indeed, especially for a mortal."

"And the brewed leaves! Don't forget the lovely tasty delicious amazing tasty brewed leaves!" An odd hairless creature shouted from atop the giant's shoulder, his dancing form looking for the entire world like a demented hairless flying lemur, his eyes shining with a mirthful yellow tint.

"You said 'tasty' twice there, Nian." The giant chided, sounding slightly amused with his hyperactive passenger.

"It's super tasty, Luanshi! Can you not smell its magnificence every time he boils a cup? Tay-ay-yay-STY!" Nian stopped his capering for a moment just so he could hug himself just at the thought of capturing the delectable steam from Iroh's cups.

"Yes," Bowu purred, her face unmoving despite her obviously bemused tone, "we must not forget that marvelous vice of his, but that is not what brings me here today; I wish to grant this mortal a boon, an indulgence if you must, however, I will likely need your assistance." "What boon would this be Keeper of Mist?" the rumbling, resonant voice of the colossal Luanshi queried, using his fellow spirit's formal title, "what would you desire to grant this favoured one amongst mortals?" "Ooh! A wiiish!" The ecstatic shriek of the impish Nian came, "A wishwish wish-wish WIIISH!" the cavorting was audible, even when the demented dancer was barely visible from atop his perch. "Uhhh..." It paused in its dance, "what wish we give the fleshling?" The sounds of two exasperated groans echoed through the mists. "That is a very good question," grumbled the ephemeral spirit of the mists, "do either of you two have any idea? Hm mm..." she hummed as she thought to herself.

"Why not make the wish something simple?" Carefully reasoned the largest of the three, "Let's say, the first wish that passes the mortal's lips that we have the power to grant. I will most certainly add some of my own might to this worthy cause."

"You would lend your power for my boon?" the lovely voice was shocked. "What an excellent notion, it gives the mortal a little control, even if he does not know it; gives us a direction to give him something he wants, and adds just enough mischief to give us some entertainment." She was all but chuckling with glee at the thought of something new and interesting to see and do.

"Me help too! Me help too!" the impish one called out. "You give wish direction, he gives wish much power, me give wish SPIN! Lovely spiiin spin-spinspinspin spin! Hehe... Spin..."

As the smallest one started his dance again, the other two spirits did not know whether to hang their heads in shame or start laughing at his antics. "What, pray tell," the giant inquired bemusedly, "do you mean by ah, spin"

"Wish is like a ball," the reedy voice of the imp chortled, "We give power to make wish bounce far, we use aim to make wish hit the right target, but spin! Lovely lovely spin make wish change on own, give wish life of its own, make wish bouncy and FUN! Fuuuun! Funfunfun-funfun FUN!"

"That is all well and good," the giant began, "but wha..."

"SSHH!" the imp stopped dancing to interrupt. "Me smell fun coming! Lookie-look at scrying pool!"

The three huddled around a nearby mirror-like pool, looking to see what the pesky little creature had 'smelt' with that stubby little nose of his.

Meanwhile, in the hills east of Gaipan, an old man with a grey three prong beard and his nephew, significantly less bald though greatly scarred across the left side of his face, slogged down the muddy trail that marks one of the highland paths to the Serpent's Pass and beyond that, the great Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se.

"Uncle, something bothers me." the younger grumbled as he walked slightly ahead of his more sedate relative.

"Zuko, great many things could be said to bother you, perhaps we should stop and make some tea so we can talk it over." Iroh chuckled amiably, already reaching for the tin teapot tied to the side of his pack.

"Not the time, Uncle. I just want to know; why do you follow me? I know you have no interest in capturing the Avatar. You were never even officially exiled. So why? Why do you follow me? What is it you are after?"

"You are interesting to follow, Zuko. Very entertaining for an old man like me, but you are right, there is something I would rather be doing, though guess you could say that I do that even now as we are travelling. I am looking for a nice place to settle down for my remaining years. Maybe open a little tea shop and play some Pai Sho while I am at it." Iroh breaks into a grin at the thought of playing Pai Sho every day.

Zuko rolls his eyes at this. His dotty old Uncle Iroh's love for tea and Pai Sho were almost great enough to eclipse his previous fame as the General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, the first General to have ever breached the walls of the very city they were headed for.

"I just wish," his uncle continued to ramble, unaware of the three spirits' ethereal grins widening as they leaned closer, the better to hear his desire, "that I could find somewhere like that, someplace nice where they have never heard of the Dreaded General Iroh, where I could find some peace and could spend my days as I choose. Is that so much to ask?"

Three spirits their gazes nearby, yet their 'bodies' oh so far away cheered, unheard by the boy and his uncle. Together they began a chant, casting their spell to give Iroh his wish, or at least the best that they could manage...

Trudging on, Zuko didn't even register the lack of noise behind him as Iroh faded out of sight and away from that plane of existence.

"*Sigh* It sounds nice Uncle, nice, but not for me. You do realize how hard it is going to be to find a village like that in the Earth Na..." looking over his shoulder, Zuko trailed off.

Behind him, there was no one. Iroh had disappeared. Retracing his steps cautiously, he retraced his steps a few dozen paces, only to find that his uncle's footprints just ended abruptly. No sign of a struggle, no sign of his having left the path for a tea break, nothing.

"Uncle?" Zuko called out, on guard against an ambush of some kind, or maybe some sort of Earth bender trap.

Seeing and hearing no one nearby, he called out again, louder this time, hoping it was just some kind of silly prank on his elder's part. "Uncle!"

"UNCLE?!"

* * *

With a clap of thunder, a small hole rent itself in the air, startling the beings nearby to no end, many of them panicking and bolting for cover in fright.

The hole sits there a moment, before widening and firing out a large spinning brown and green ball as if from a cannon with a noise that sounded distinctly like a belch before shrinking back in on itself and finally vanishing from sight.

The ball hits the fish pond with a clatter, skipping once, twice and hitting a blackberry bush on the lake's shore with a resounding crash and clatter before resolving into a pair of legs hanging limply from one side of the shrubbery.

A grey pony nearby, somewhat more used to sudden loud noises than most of the others in the park stands from where she had been sitting on the grass and approaches the bush, eyeing the strange legs carefully before parting the bush with her hooves to look inside.

She looks, then pulls her head out to blink and shake her head in bewilderment for a moment before taking a second look just to prove that she wasn't hallucinating. Scanning the faces of the ponies in the park, she spots a familiar face and is reminded of a particular and somewhat annoying quirk.

"Oh Lyra!" she called out, "I think this needs a little of your expertise on the matter, _and I'm not talking about your harp_!"

"What are you talking about Octavia? I play the lyre, not the ha ha hah..." Lyra's annoyed voice trails off as she looks into the bush that is being held open by the cellist. Her jaw drops and her eyes widen even as they start to go glassy as she tries to process the sight before her.

Octavia smirks at the suddenly catatonic minty green unicorn before turning back to the now approaching crowd. "Can I get a couple of unicorns to help get this creature out of the bush? It looks like he needs some assistance to get out of there and it doesn't seem like Lyra will be able to help."

Stepping forward, several unicorns coordinated to pry the bush apart and levitate the thoroughly scratched and bruised human out and onto the grass. Octavia eyeballs the human again before looking at the freshly hesitant crowd and the statue-like form of Lyra, still stuck unmoving in front of the bush. Octavia massages her nose with a hoof, grumbling to herself that she just knows she is going to regret this, she kneels down and noses the human over her head and neck to rest on her back. Grimacing at his weight, she starts a steady trot towards the hospital and medical treatment.

"You better be friendly," Octavia groused as the crowd parted before her, shying away from contact with Iroh, "because you are certainly not light... ugh!"

* * *

On an ethereal plane slightly to the left of Equestria, two spirits glared down at their excitable counterpart, their displeasure with the little imp readily apparent.

"Uhhh..." Niam stammered as his large ears drooping in embarrassment. He held up a claw, his thumb and fore claw a few millimetres apart "Too much spin?"


	2. Chapter 2

Staggering in through the front door of the Ponyville Hospital, Octavia gasped out with a call for help to the nurse at the desk before collapsing under the weight of her unconscious passenger. Nurse Redheart rushed out from behind the desk, followed rapidly by Nurse Snowheart and one of the orderly unicorn stallions often kept on duty to deal with the heavy lifting or when one of the patients or guests got too out of hand.

As Snowheart saw to Octavia, helping her to a bench to rest and fetching her water to drink the orderly levitated the unconscious Iroh onto a stretcher. "Take it to room four, Steel Crescent, I'll go find the doctor and get him down here."

Redheart briskly ordered the periwinkle unicorn before turning and cantering towards the stairs.

"Yes ma'am" was the only utterance from Steel Crescent as he began levitating the now loaded stretcher down the hallway towards the treatment rooms and out of sight.

"Now, I simply must know," the gossipy Nurse Snowheart began once the room was clear of all but herself and the slowly recovering Octavia, "where in the world did you find that creature? I've never seen anything like it outside of one of Fluttershy's monkeys in her menagerie."

"I'm pretty sure it is what is called a human," Octavia gave a weak smile, the opportunity for civilized conversation brightening her afternoon somewhat, "at least that is what Lyra calls them. I have heard her describe them often enough after rehearsing a piece, that it could hardly have been anything else."

"Alright, so it's one of Miss Heartstring's fanciful creatures come to life, that's amazing in itself but where did it come from? It can't have just fallen out of the sky you know." At this, Octavia could not help but to break into laughter as she did her best to explain that that was precisely how the human had appeared.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a treatment room nearby, Doctor Stable carefully peeled the creature's clothing back one layer at a time so as to get to the bleeding wounds that lay underneath.

"Nurse Redheart," he spoke calmly as he concentrated on his work, "would you be a dear and fetch me some more disinfectant and bandages? I should be fine here since it looks as though it has had no adverse reactions to the sedative."

"Yes, doctor," she replied already on her way out the door and on her way to the supply closet.

"My, my... Well we know you are a primate of some kind my friend." he spoke conversationally to the unconscious Iroh.

Finally removing the final layer, he gave a light chuckle, "and a stallion at that. No need to worry my good fellow, we'll soon have you patched up and out of here."

Floating a clipboard and quill closer, he started dictating to himself, a bad habit he had picked up over the years.

"Subject is primate like in nature, possibly related to the yeti in some way. Male, with grey hair covering his face and head as well as at the junctions of both sets of limbs with the body. Paws on all four limbs, the lower paws being elongated with stubby digits, the forepaws having five long digits, with rudimentary claws on the end of each one…"

As the doctor carried on his monologue, Nurse Redheart re-entered the room and set to work disinfecting the deeper of the scratches on Iroh's arms, carefully bandaging each limb as she finished.

Having finished his note taking, the doctor turned to Nurse Redheart. "Would you be kind enough to go through the saddlebag he came in with while I take care of his back? It may hold some clue as to his name."

"His name?" the nurse wondered aloud.

"Of course his name." the doctor responded. "You'll find that most creatures that have the mental capacity to wear clothes of some kind will often have clues as to their identity. This is doubly true if they carry a saddle bag for travel as this one seems to."

Nurse Redheart turned and pawed at the buckle on the bag for a moment before unlatching it, the buckle being much smaller than she was used to dealing with.

Opening the bag, she found sitting on top a collection of round canisters, reminiscent of steel jam jars. Setting one down on the floor, she gripped it firmly with her fore hooves while grabbing the lid with her teeth. An expert twist of her neck later, the canister audibly popped open releasing the most heavenly aroma she had smelt in a long time.

The canister contained dried and shredded leaves which were emitting that sweet aroma. Closing it back up, the nurse tried each of the canisters in turn, each one holding a slightly different type of dried leaf.

"Doctor Stable, I think he might be a trader of some kind. He has containers filled with if I'm not mistaken, tea leaves, loads and loads of tea leaves."

"Interesting… what else is there?" The doctor did not look away from his work, preferring to carry on patching up the wounds on Iroh's back and the backs of his legs which for some reason were tending more towards dark bruises rather than scratches.

The nurse turned back to the bag, announcing each item as she pulled it out. "Clothes, more clothes, some cups, more clothes. Hmm a box and there was a board of some kind underneath. Feels like very thick parchment to me."

Setting the box on the floor, she puzzled out the latch on the front, allowing her to open the box. "There are discs inside all marked with some kind of flower, doctor. No idea what they could mean though, perhaps pieces for a game?"

"No sign of parchments or scrolls in there? Nothing with any writing?"

"A small bag of metal discs in the side pocket. They look as though they could be some kind of an odd version of bits."

"Very well, pack his things away again and place them in the corner for now. I'm almost done here, and it appears the poor fellow was very lucky. No signs of a concussion or any other head wounds other than the scratches he got from landing in that bush."

As the nurse finished packing the last of Iroh's effects back into his bag, Doctor Stable spoke up again. "I think that I shall go and pay a quick visit to Miss Fluttershy presently, being our resident animal expert, she may have some insight into who or what this fellow is. Will you be OK dealing with the other patients while I am gone?"

"Of course doctor." the nurse stated primly, "I shall get on with my rounds then. See you when you get back."

The doctor trotted out of the room and soon after out of the hospital, heading for the path out towards the Everfree Forest and the cottage belonging to Fluttershy on its edge.

* * *

In front of a particular slightly mangled blackberry bush, a bird flutters down to perch on a green horn, settling down for a rest as the sun sets in the distance.

'I wonder why those ponies put a statue here of all places' she wonders to herself.

A few moments later, the bird flies away at the sound of approaching hooves. A stallion in a flower print shirt crests the hill, a white filly with a bi-color mane cantering at his side to keep up with his much longer stride. His bushy brown eyebrows rise in concern as he spots the form of Lyra standing in the same position she had been in for some hours now.

"Miss?" He called out to the unicorn, "Miss Lyra? Why are you still here?" Getting no response he moves and puts a fore hoof on her shoulder only to jerk back in surprise as she bursts into action.

"GAH!" Lyra exclaims, "That's a HUMAN!"

Shaking her head vigorously again, Lyra looks back into the bush. "Huh? Where'd it go?" Looking up and noticing the empty and rapidly darkening park around her, she blushes. 'Oh sweet Celestia! I didn't space out in front of all those ponies did I?' she thinks to herself, almost rhetorically.

"Where did what go, Miss Lyra?" Magnum asks, Sweetie Belle at his side looking on curiously.

Lyra rears up for a moment in excitement flailing her hooves as she exclaims "There was a human, a real live human right here!"

"Is that what that critter was called? I heard about it being found somewhere around here. Is that right?"

"It was here!" Lyra gesticulated at the bush. "It was up there, and it was spinning like a ball and then it crashed down on the lake, but it didn't go underwater, it bounced, bounced like a ball! Maybe humans have powers that make them bounce, like a pegasus flies! Oooh wouldn't that be cool? Bouncing everywhere maybe a little bit like a rabbit or something maybe that's why they have toes!"

As Lyra once again slipped into one of her trademark fanciful rants about a creature he had never seen before, Magnum quietly levitated the awestruck Sweetie Belle onto his back while the little filly all but went cross eyed trying to understand the nonstop stream of consciousness emitting from Lyra's muzzle.

Backing slowly away, both his and Sweetie Belle's eyes locked on the verbose mare, Magnum headed towards the path out of the park again and back on the way to Sweet Apple Acres where his younger daughter and her two friends were to have a sleepover that night while Rarity and her five friends accompanied headed north on another one of their crazy adventures no doubt.

Back in the park, Lyra finally ran out of steam and looked back around, only to find the park deserted. Deprived of an audience for her theories, she instead turned to the much more interesting dilemma of finding her newest research specimen - FRIEND! Lyra told herself sternly. 'We make friends first, AND THEN we get to the fingers...'

Lyra mentally trailed off again as she started to drift into a daydream about learning how fingers worked. NO! I've got to find the human first. Looking more carefully around the park before circling the blackberry bush a couple of times just to be sure, she began her hunt - for a friend of course... heh heh...

"Now if I were a human, where would I go in Ponyville?" she wondered aloud. "Oh duh! Sugarcube Corner!" Her destination and quarry firmly in mind, Lyra lights her horn to help light her way in the twilight and sets off for her sweet, sweet destination and its delicious cupcakes - 'HUMAN!' She refocuses her mind, 'Human first, cupcakes second!'

* * *

Amongst the mists between worlds, an argument has begun between three very different beings.

"If you hadn't been so obsessed with your thrice cursed 'spin' the human would not have been hurt! We were supposed to grant his wish! Not give him his peace through the afterlife!" raged a female voice through the murk, some of the vapours taking on a distinctly orange tone as her anger gathered strength.

"Spin?! Spin not do that to fleshy flesh bag! That was power! Too much power!" the imp danced back and forth pointing his gnarled arm in the direction of the towering giant amongst their group.

"The power was just fine." Argued the giant. "Any less and we could not have taken him across worlds. If you ask me, this was all a matter of precision and isn't precision your department my dear?"

"My aim was perfect," she snootily responded, "as always. This time someone just HAD to move the target. What were you thinking? So much spin meant there was no way he could have had a safe landing!"

The spirit of the mists shrieked in outrage as the circular argument began anew, their voices echoing into the empty distance.

* * *

In a candle lit cottage within the Everfree Forest a striped head looks up from her simmering cauldron jerkily, its green glow adding an eerie shine to her suddenly glassy eyes.

_"A great beast comes to mortal's friend,_

_Its will denied, a world shall end._

_His student returned to realm afar,_

_Just reward undone before falling star."_

Swaying in place for a moment, the zebra shakes her head dazedly before rushing over to a workbench to transcribe the words that had just come to her unbidden before they could be forgotten.

* * *

A stone clatters along the Gaipan trail as a confused and desolate Zuko hikes onward alone. Having spent several hours searching and calling for his Uncle, there was no sign of the old man at all. Trying to stay alert for Earth Kingdom patrols or bounty hunters was not an easy task as he worried at the problem of where Uncle Iroh had gone. Why did he disappear? And just as importantly, did he disappear willingly?

"It would be just like the old man to do this to try and teach me some kind of lesson." Zuko grumbled to himself, even though he had been separated from the tea drinking fool before, just west of the Si Wong desert. That time, Zuko had been the one to walk away, though his uncle had followed him secretly, keeping an eye on him.

'So be it,' he thought, 'if Uncle is going to pull this on me now, I'm going with the original plan. I'll find some way to get into Ba Sing Se and find him, the Avatar or both.'

Cheered somewhat by his resolution, he picked up his pace, almost unable to keep himself from humming one of Iroh's tunes.

"It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se but the girls in the city they look so... WHAT AM I DOING?!" Zuko held his head in his hands. "That's it; drinking Uncle's stupid hot leaf juice is starting to drive me as crazy as a badger-mole!"

Now back in his much more typical grouchy demeanour, he continued stalking down the trail.


	3. Chapter 3

Mr. Cake looked up from his mopping as he heard a rapid knocking on the front door of the bakery. Spitting out the mop and balancing it against a table, he called out "Coming!" as he made his way over to unlatch the door.

Standing on his porch, dancing excitably in place, was a green unicorn mare. "Good evening Lyra, I'm afraid we've already closed up for the day. Was there something urgent you needed?"

"Is he here, Mr. Cake? Is he here?" Lyra craned her neck to peer over and behind the baker.

Mr. Cake tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Is _who_ here?"

"The _human_!" Lyra exclaimed. "He's somepony new in town, and I know Pinkie _always_ throws a party for somepony new in town."

"Not today, she's not." The old baker grinned, "Pinkie left yesterday to go on some errand she was needed for up North. Truth be told, I've heard some of my customers talking about it all afternoon, but I haven't seen it for myself yet."

The mare's ears drooped at hearing this. "Oh, ok. Thanks anyway, I'll try someplace else then."

Lyra turned and walked away, her nose scrunched in thought as she tried to think of another place that the human could have gone.

She perked up and exclaimed "of course! Fluttershy takes care of all the animals and creatures in the area, maybe he went there!" With a spring in her step, she broke into a canter, angling towards the path out of town and towards the cottage on its far outskirts, summoning a small hovering ball of light with her horn to help light the way.

* * *

After several minutes of pounding at the door of the cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest, the bottom half of the door opens to reveal an irritated white bunny.

"Oh hello, is Fluttershy in? I really, really need to see her right away." Lyra was once again shuffling excitedly from hoof to hoof like a young filly.

Angel glared at her, chattering and waving his furry little paw at her as he pointed first to the moon climbing higher into the sky and then to the note pinned to the top half of the door. Finishing his unintelligible rant, he turned and slammed the door in Lyra's face, knocking her back slightly.

Sitting back on her haunches and rubbing her slightly bruised nose with both hooves, Lyra raised her eyes to the note pinned to the top half of the door which she hadn't even noticed before.

_Gone on an important trip. Back again soon._

_Fluttershy_

_P.S. Scootaloo, please be nice to Elizabeak if you are here to visit her._

Lyra sat there for a few moments just processing the message. Pinkie Pie was gone, so was Fluttershy. It would be a fair bet that the entire group of their circle of friends would be gone as well. How to test that? The Apple family farm was too far away, and besides, they would all be asleep at this time of night. Twilight Sparkle was known to stay up late into the night studying one subject or another and Lyra doubted she could resist studying something as amazing as a human.

'To the library it is!' she thought to herself, climbing wearily to her feet, her antics finally starting to catch up with her.

Trotting back down the path from Fluttershy's home, she leaned to the side every once in a while to snag a flower from the edge of the fields so that she could keep her energy up.

* * *

Lyra was dragging her feet slightly as she walked through the darkened streets of Ponyville. Her eyes were drawn to an electric blue glow approaching from the opposite direction, marking another unicorn walking the streets in the late evening.

The glow changed directions to angle towards her, moments later revealing its owner to be Vinyl Scratch, a fellow musician she had had very little interaction with, mostly due to their differing genres of performance.

Vinyl halted in front of her, her ever present glasses perched on top of her head instead of over her red eyes and her headphones missing from around her neck. "Come with me." Her voice was quiet and commanding, so out of character for the usually exuberant unicorn that Lyra was momentarily taken aback and fell into step with the DJ out of instinct alone.

"Bonny came by tonight looking for you, ya know?" This got Lyra's attention. "She's been lookin' for ya for hours. She heard there was a human in town, and she was afraid you were gonna do something stupid. Octy got her to rest at my place while I took a look around town for you."

"So Bonbon knows about the human? That's great! I've been trying to find proof that they exist for years and"

"Are you even listening to yourself?!" Vinyl sounded genuinely angry. "Celestia knows I don't do the whole responsibility gig too well but _come on_! Your friend is partied out and worried about you, and all you care about is proving something we already got proof of?"

"You got proof of the human?!" Lyra's single-mindedness in the face of the browbeating proved to be greater than her guilt.

"Duh! Octy hauled the human to the hospital by herself, no thanks... to..." The DJ trailed off and face hoofed as she realized she had goofed up and Lyra was now a swiftly retreating cloud of dust in the darkness.

"At least I can tell Bonny and Octy where the hay she's goin' now." Shaking her head in annoyance at both herself and the obsessive lyrist, Vinyl turned the last corner to approach her home, and a conversation she was _not_ going to enjoy.

* * *

The sounds of a shouting voice woke Iroh in the middle of the night. Coming instantly awake, he sat up in bed, a sphere of fire flaring to life in the palm of his hand.

Looking around and seeing no one in the immediate area, but hearing what sounded to him like the desperate screams of a woman, Iroh took stock of the situation.

He was naked but for bandages that seemed to cover his body from his shoulders to his belt line, spots of blood visible through some of the dressings. His neck and shoulder ached abominably, 'feels like I got hit with a boulder. We were probably ambushed... damn!'

The next thing he noticed was the lack of shackles or other bindings. 'Not captured though. Zuko must have fought them off, the boy is learning at least something by now. Good.'

Noting his bag and clothes laid out below and above a table respectively in a corner of the room, he got up with as quiet a groan as he could manage and shrugged into his wrappings and robes as quietly as he could.

The screams were suddenly getting louder as if the woman had broken through whatever or whoever had been restraining her and was headed in his direction, whoever he noted as several voices called out for her to stop.

'I hope this is not some widow coming for me...' he thought ominously. Opening the window he looked outside only to have second thoughts and instead glided over to beside the door into the room.

The door glowed amber and flung open less than fifteen seconds later, something walking into the room with footsteps that sounded for all the world to him like those of a small pig-deer. His curiosity piqued, he cautiously leaned to the side to peer around the edge of the door.

The creature looked very similar to a pig-deer but was entirely the wrong color, it also had only a single horn on top of its head rather than two. It was looking rapidly between his recently vacated bed and the open window, confusion apparent in its demeanor.

It started to approach the window only to be pounced on by a multicolored trio of similar creatures that raced into the room after it. The struggle was brief and entirely futile for the first creature as one of the three produced a tube with a spike on the end and jammed it into the first one's flank.

With a wailing cry of "No", the same voice he had heard earlier the first struggled weakly for a few moments more before slumping to the floor.

"You two take her to another room and let her sleep it off," the voice of another female ordered the other two, "I'll make sure she didn't hurt the human."

"Damn fool," she growled, her voice only barely audible as the others two dragged the unconscious one back through the very door which Iroh was hiding behind.

"Oh sweet Celestia's Bulbous Buttocks! The human's not here!" Came her startled exclamation as she realized the bed had been empty the entire time she had been in the room. "His saddlebag isn't here either. At least that means that he wasn't woken up by young Lyra."

With a tired sigh, she trotted over and closed the window using her teeth on the small knobs situated on the lower inside of the frames for just such a purpose.

As she did so, Iroh did his best to shuffle himself closer into the junction between the open door and the wall, trying not to make any noise.

"Huh?" Iroh winced, hoping he hadn't been spotted.

"How did his bag get over there? I put it by the table." Iroh cursed internally at his carelessness, hoping he didn't have to fight his way out of here, seeing what that spike had done to the other creature.

The pink muzzle of Nurse Sweetheart appeared around the edge of the door, followed shortly by the rest of her head. Her eyes widened as she realized that standing next to the bag was a sandal clad foot, along with requisite attached leg. Her pupils constricted as she started to back up and raise her head at the same time.

Iroh, knowing the game was up, and that he had been discovered used his left arm to close the door, revealing his full form and his grim countenance to the suddenly _intensely_ nervous mare.

Leaning forward slightly to loom over her, Iroh's years as a general came to the fore with a vengeance. "I have four questions for you. Answer them and you will not be harmed." He spoke quietly and clearly. "Who are you, _what_ are you, where am I and how did I get here?"

"M-m-my name is Sweetheart," the intimidated pink nurse stammered, "I'm a nurse here at Ponyville hospital. Y-you were brought in here this afternoon with injuries."

"And my nephew? The young man that was with me, where is he?"

"I-I-I don't know," the nurse cried, "I only heard of one human coming here, and that was you!"

Iroh ruminated on this for a moment, hoping that his nephew had survived whatever ambush they must have been caught in, "That reminds me, you did not answer, _what are you_?"

The nurse cowered with her head under her hooves as she blurted out her answer. "An earth pony! I'm an earth pony!"

She trembled as she heard the human curse before stepping around her and stalking to the window. With one leg over the sash, Iroh turned back to her for a moment, "I thank you for treating me as you have, however, I cannot stay to enjoy your hospitality any longer."

Dropping down to the ground just below the window of his ground floor room, Iroh settled the pack on his back, glanced of his shoulder at the still cowering nurse in the room and jogged away, turning down a random path in towards the town in order to find somewhere to hide out and rest up until morning.

* * *

Vinyl quietly closes the door behind her as she steps into her home, her head hung low. In the lounge room, Bonbon looks up from her spot on the couch next to a sleeping Octavia. "Did you find her?" The candy maker asks quietly on spotting Vinyl.

"Yeah, I found her alright," the unicorn sulks as she heads towards the fridge for some juice, "she was running all over looking for the human Octy found, just like you thought she might be."

Chugging her orange juice with relish she turned her head slightly towards Bonbon who was now entering the kitchen to join her. Filling another two glasses, she levitates one down onto the table near Bonbon as she takes up her second. "That was the weirdest feeling I have ever had, chewing out Lyra, it was almost like I was a mom telling off my filly."

Vinyl shuddered theatrically at the thought. "Never having foals!" She moaned to Bonbon, "Responsibility sucks!"

Bonbon giggled appreciatively as she sipped her juice, somewhat cheered by Vinyl's theatrics, 'I could seriously be friends with this mare,' she thought to herself, 'even if she is as loud as Octavia tells me she is.'

"So did you get her to go home?" Bonbon asked hopefully.

"Nah," Vinyl was frowning once again, "I put my hoof in my mouth and mentioned that Octy took the human to the hospital. Crazy filly hoofed it so hard I'm amazed she didn't plow a furrow in the street behind her."

"You didn't," Bonbon gasped.

"Eeeyup, I did. I'd lay bits on it that right now she's either drooling over the human like the creepiest fanfilly you have ever seen or getting her rump handed to her by one of those hunky orderlies up there." Bonbon laughed out loud at the descriptions and settled down in her seat for the conversation. Something told her tonight might not be such a bad night after all


	4. Chapter 4

Iroh pondered his situation as he wandered the moonlit streets of the strange town he found himself in.

He could tell even in the low light that the architecture was like nothing he had seen before; thatched roofs and glass paned windows with shutters. Gardens in front of every house and different colored low fences completed the boundary of each home, most with a rounded box that had a small red flag nailed to the side.

Each and every house was painted with different colors, some were even customized further, following themes that made no sense at all to the old man.

An excellent example was a home just ahead which at first glance appeared to be a massive tree, only for its actual purpose to be belied by the moonlight glinting off the panes of its windows and the small telescope he could see sitting on a balcony in its upper reaches.

What manner of being were these colorful 'ponies'?

Spirits? No, they were far too uniform of the body to be spirits, not to mention the colors here were _far_ too vivid for there to be any chance of this place being in the spirit world where colors seemed to drain away before the mortal eye.

Animals? Ha! These ponies were far too intelligent to be mere animals, the nurse he had cowed and interrogated in the hospital spoke well enough that if he had closed his eyes, he could easily have imagined he had been speaking to another human - one that had about the same courage as a toddler, but her speech had been far more advanced than any animal capable of mimicry he had ever heard of.

Walking into an open area, he looked around at the wooden stalls that surrounded the square, marking it as a market. The signs above each stall extolling its wares with a simple image of its primary product, he spotted apples, carrots, celery and cabbage and many other fruits and vegetables from where he stood alone.

A fountain ran in the middle of the square, its water making a faint sound as it trickled down through several bowls. A quick and cautious taste test found the water to be relatively clean, several double handfuls later found it quite refreshing. Rapidly, Iroh withdrew a trio of waterskins from the side of his bag, emptying one which still had tepid, lesser quality water in it from a river he and Zuko had passed.

As he held each bag under the running water, he took the time to try and identify some of the more exotic produce pictured above the stands, or the stores the stood behind many of them. Several were easy - flowers there, the hammer and anvil of a blacksmith over to the side, - others not so easy - one store's sign depicted a feather and what looked like a long chair, another a trio of bottles.

Having drunk his fill and replenished his water bottles, Iroh stood and carried on, searching for more clues as to exactly where he was.

At this hour, the marketplace was of course deserted as he strode through it. Iroh was just more than halfway across the market when something struck him, or more to the point it struck him that something_hadn't_ struck him; there was little to no smell here! No smell of ostrich-horses used to haul carts, no smell of rotting fish, meat or vegetables, no smell of unwashed bodies having passed through in the heat of the day, nothing but the smells wafting in from the nearby garden flowers.

"Dragon's Mercy!" he breathed to himself as he thought back to what he had seen at the hospital. The desperate green one who had burst into his room had been subdued within seconds. The spike they had driven into her leg had rendered her unconscious almost immediately and with little or no visible injury!

It was entirely possible that wherever he was, the knowledge of healing techniques these ponies possessed was far beyond what he knew the Earth and Fire nations were capable of.

He shuddered as he realised the implications of such an odorless marketplace. If they were capable of bending, they might even have healing techniques that could surpass the vaunted skills of the Southern Water Tribe at the height of their power before the war. The near immaculately swept ground of the marketplace certainly suggested the attention of air benders or water benders as part of the cleaning crew for this area.

Noting a faint glint out of the corner of his eye, Iroh smiled lightly as he noticed a coin sitting slightly underneath one of the stalls.

Iroh diverted his path to snag the coin from out of its hiding place. Taking it as a small sign of fortune that he should go in that direction, he left the marketplace along the nearest street and followed the path between the increasingly randomly placed homes.

The sound of two women laughing broke the quiet of the night a little way off to his right. The window the laughter was coming from was immediately apparent as being the only one around that still had light coming from inside.

Iroh debated with himself as to whether he wanted to risk discovery by listening in, considering he was by no means as agile as Zuko.

His mind was made up for him when he made out the word human amongst the chatter. Taking care not to enter the area illuminated by the window, he crouched down and sidled along the fence of the home so that he could get nearer.

When he was happy that he was close enough, he took a quick glance over the top of the fence and into what was most likely a kitchen of some kind to get a quick look at his unsuspecting marks. The one of the left was a light cream color with dark blue hair that had a wide stripe of pink down the middle. Her hair was curly and seemed to have more volume to it than was suggested by the size of its owners head.

The other one at the table had wild spiky hair with alternating light and dark blue spikes, her fur otherwise being a similar color to her companion. As she turned her head to look off to the side a moment while her companion was telling a story of some kind to laugh again, and then settle into her seat at a different angle, Iroh noticed her eyes were a deep red, and that there was a small horn protruding from the centre of her forehead.

"... so then, there she was, reared up on her hind legs, trying to stand there with only her hind legs with trousers on them and these socks on her forelegs, except they looked like they were made for claws." The curly haired one was chuckling, hardly able to contain her laughter, her spiky haired companion grinning widely across the table from her. "She was standing there posing in the mirror, and she sees me standing at the door when she says 'Oh hey Bonbon, what do you think of my human style hand socks?'"

Bonbon brought her hoof to her mouth to attempt to stifle her laughter as her friend chuckled appreciatively at the scene that the curly haired mare evoked.

Iroh quietly sat down on the other side of the fence, out of line of sight, but well within earshot of the chattering mares. He was in a strange situation, and information, even the apparent gossip of a couple of ponies, was always good.

"So what about that human that Octy found?" the one with the spiky hair asked, "Did you manage to see it?"

"Uh uh," came the slightly disappointed reply, "I was at my stall in the marketplace when it happened. I heard a dozen rumors before I even closed up shop for the day and some of them were just plain crazy!"

"So what did you hear? I usually sleep until the crack of midday."

"'The crack of midday?'" The one called Bonbon sounded confused.

"I have to work until really late at night all the time. Occupational hazard of partying ya know?"

"Oh. Yes of course you would have to work late." Bonbon sounded a little jealous to Iroh's ears. "I heard he bounced into town on a giant ball, then somepony said he was the ball. I think the best one I heard today was that he was so ugly that Lyra took one look at him, and her mind broke! Bah ha ha hah!"

It took a bit for Iroh to restrain himself from standing up and defending his majestic countenance at that point while the mares were laughing once again.

"So what _did_ happen to Lyra when she saw it? I bet it was wild!"

"When Octavia looked in the bush after that human had crashed into it, she remembered about Lyra always talking about these things and calling them humans. Considering it looked like a shaved yeti in clothes, she figured it was a safe bet it was one of Lyra's humans." Bonbon was clearly enjoying her narrative.

"So she took a quick look around the park and spotted her sitting on a bench in the same pose she uses when she plays her lyre. Of course, she called her over and told her to look into the bush."

"And? What happened?" Bonbon's companion asked, her voice laden with anticipation.

Bonbon's voice was deadpan. "She looked into the bush and then just froze in place."

"What? That's all? She just froze up? Laaaame!"

"For hours. I heard she didn't come back to herself until it was nearly sunset."

"Wow."

"Yeah, well with a reaction like that from Lyra of all ponies, everypony else backed right off, and Octavia couldn't get anypony to help her carry him up to the hospital to get looked at."

"Why the hospital? Surely landing in a bush isn't that bad? I mean we've just about all done something like that when we were fillies."

"Ever see a pegasus hit a lake hard enough to bounce off the water instead of diving in?"

"OUCH! Yeah, ok, that's a hospital trip."

Deciding he had heard enough for the moment, it was time to take his battered dignity and find somewhere to hide out for a while to regain his strength. A little food wouldn't hurt either, now that he thought about it.

His course decided, Iroh rolled to his knees on the soft grass, and from there, half crawled a short distance until he was sure he would not be spotted by the two as he stood up again.

* * *

Another 20 minutes of random wandering found Iroh gazing upon a small shed located behind a house on the outskirts of town. Its grass was significantly longer than its neighbors, and its garden beds littered with weeds, a fair indication, he thought, of the house being unoccupied. Just in case the owner of the home was simply lazy, Iroh planned to use this shed to take a rest instead of the house. No need to take unnecessary risks.

Being careful not to make too much sound, Iroh opened the door and slipped inside of the shed, closing the door behind him..

A small ball of fire burst into life over the palm of his hand as Iroh took quick stock of the shed. An old, battered, and very dusty workbench sat against the far wall, tools arrayed on a board low along the wall next to it. The floor was plain dirt, tightly trampled down in several areas of where the owner had habitually stood.

Satisfied that he was alone, Iroh extinguished his light and sat down on the floor, leaning against one of the walls of the shed. Opening his bag, he ran practiced hands over the canisters of tea he kept in there. "Three to the left and at the front," Iroh murmured, "a nice cup of ginseng tea or two will be excellent to help me relax."

He pulled the canister out, also removing a mug from his pack, as well as one of his newly filled waterskins. He set the canister and mug on the floor in front of him, and re-lit his small fiery light source as he removed the cap on his waterskin with his teeth, pouring enough water for his tea into his mug carefully by fire-light.

Dismissing the fire again, he unscrewed the lid with two hands and set the canister back down, scooping his mug up by touch. Breathing in then out, very deliberately, he used his fire bending skills to heat the water in his mug, a trick he was very proud to have figured out after years for studying the techniques of water benders for useful insight into his own skills.

He shifted one hand to the handle of the mug, and used his left to carefully find and then reach into the container of ginseng powder to take up a pinch and sprinkle it into his mug. Groping to his left for the lid, he picked it up and screwed it back onto the canister while he waited for his tea to steep and cool to a drinkable temperature.

Sensing the heat was about right, Iroh brought the cup to his lips only to sputter in surprise. This was his valerian tea - a calming tea that was also a mild sedative! He wanted to relax and think a little, not go to sleep!

Placing his mug on the floor and out of the way, Iroh went through the canisters of tea one at a time, opening each one and taking a sniff of its contents.

The containers were all mixed up. It was obvious that someone had been through his bag while he had been knocked out. Checking that the rest of his things had been also been rifled through, he removed a shallow metal bowl and sprinkled some sawdust into it, igniting the sawdust with barely a second thought.

His clothes were all still here, his teas and cups present and intact. The pocket sewn into the bottom of the bag seemed to be untouched, and his papers still sealed into the waterproof pouch they were stored in. Coming to his purse, he remembered the coin he had picked up during his wanderings through the town.

Removing the coin from the fold in his obi, he examined it closely. The coin was larger than those he was familiar with, also lacking the hole in the centre that was often used to string the coins of his homeland together. On one side was the number one, the letters above it proclaiming the coin to be, 'one bit'. The number was flanked by strands of leaves, and on the other side of the coin, there was half of a stylized sun partially overlaid by the image of a bird that had spread its wings across the other half of that side of the coin.

'Certainly not Earth Kingdom, even though that one before called herself an Earth Pony', Iroh thought to himself as he repacked his backpack _correctly_ this time, with each canister of tea in its proper place.

'There is no help for it now', he mused, 'first I must find out whether the locals are friendly. If they are good, I could use a break but I must also find Zuko again before that hot head does something he will regret later.'

'If not, that could be a problem, there is a very good chance that they will be able to outrun me. I'll just have to hope they do not possess any bending skills and work my way on from there.'

His mind on plans and counter-plans for dealing with the natives tomorrow, he reached over to his mug of tea absentmindedly and took a sip. Grimacing at its bitter taste, he reheated it slightly and proceeded to finish it off. No use letting good tea go to waste after all…

* * *

It was several hours later that Bonbon looked out of the window to see the sun had risen. She had sat up talking with Vinyl all night!

With a groan, she realised that she would have to work through the day on no sleep at all. Something she had done several times in the past, though never voluntarily, usually due to the hijinks of her roommate Lyra and one of her harebrained scheme to imitate her beloved humans in some weird and wonderful manner.

Vinyl looked out the window with her and chuckled slightly, guessing her thoughts. "Tell you what, why don't you go and take a nap for a few hours in my room. I'll go put a note up on your stall that you will be opening late today."

"Oh would you?" Bonbon was relieved, a couple of hours sleep would still leave her tired, but she would at least be able to function for the rest of the day.

"No problem," Vinyl was already levitating a quill and sheet of parchment over.

Scratching down a quick note - Opening at 12 today. Bonbon. "Here ya go, will this work for you?" Vinyl held up the parchment with a flourish, showing off her… less than stellar script.

Bonbon gave a weak smile, "That will work. Thank you so much for this, I thought I would have to work through today on no sleep, and that isn't fun especially when you are haggling with customers."

"It's all good. I'll go and stick this on your stall, you head on upstairs and crash. I'll make sure you get up in a bit, alright." With a grin, the DJ trotted out the kitchen, and shortly after, out the front door while the confectioner stumbled up the stairs to collapse into a bed.

* * *

The sun having just risen, Vinyl found herself the first pony in the marketplace that morning.

Glancing about the deserted square as she made her way over to the stall where Bonbon sold her candy and other tasty treats, Vinyl noted something strange amongst all the usual hoof prints and cart tracks in the dirt.

A single solitary set of prints that seemed to meander through the square that did not match any she had not seen before. Pushing the parchment onto a handy nail that was sticking out of the wooden beam, holding up the small roof that protected the goods from any stray rain, she turned to kneel and look more closely at the prints.

They were long and flat, more than double the length of the hoof print of a pony and with no central hollow section at all. Her eyes widened as she realised there was only one thing these prints could belong to. It seemed the human was up and about and was wandering about the town.

Following the tracks in one direction led her towards the exit to the market that was closest to the hospital, so it was a fair bet that he was headed in the other direction. Other ponies were starting to enter the square to set up their stalls for the day, some of them looking askance at the off-white DJ as she wandered the area with her nose pointed at the ground, a frown of concentration on her face.

"Excuse me miss," came the voice of one the three sisters that ran the flower stall, "what are you doing?"

"Ah not much," Vinyl said without really paying attention, "just following these human tracks..."


	5. Chapter 5

_"Excuse me miss," came the voice of one the three sisters that ran the flower stall, "what are you doing?"_

_"Ah, not much," Vinyl said without really paying attention, "just following these human tracks..."_

Chaos reigned amongst the ponies in the marketplace within seconds of the words leaving Vinyl Scratch's mouth. Meanwhile, the Canterlot raised mare stood in the street, her head tilted slightly to one side, her face blank and more than a little disbelieving of the sheer panic in the admittedly small crowd of ponies.

"Seriously? I heard country ponies were flighty, but that's just not right..." The DJ was speaking in the direction of the panicked ponies for all the good it did her, they were too wrapped up in their own fear and finding some place to hide to pay attention to her.

Figuring she had a couple of hours to burn and these ponies would be useless for a little while, she might as well see how far she could follow the tracks. After all, if she could rock with a minotaur, a human couldn't be_that_ hard to deal with.

It was easy enough to follow the trail of the human, his shoe prints were massive compared to the hoof prints of a pony and the ground was moist enough from the spring showers over the last few days to leave a good print.

Coming to a point where his tracks seemed to end, she noted the deep shoeprints in the dirt and a couple of handprints nearby - definitely NOT a pony - looking up from the prints, she blinked in surprise as she recognised the colors.

This - this was her house, in fact, it looked like he had sat there for a while, resting at some point last night, maybe even eavesdropping on her conversation with Bonbon!

Backtracking a little to the edge of her fence, she hunted around a little before she picked up the trail again headed in a slightly different direction. 'I wonder where else he's been,' she thought, 'this could turn out to be interesting…'

* * *

Iroh woke to the sensation that he was sleeping on the softest bed he had ever felt so soft in fact, that he could hardly even feel it. Yawning widely, he rolled over. That is - he tried to roll over, but he did not move. His brow furrowed in concentration, and he tried to roll over again.

"Mornin'" came a casual female voice, "nice night for a stroll wasn't it?"

Iroh opened one eye, his blurry vision slowly resolving into a view of two large, half lidded red eyes set in a whitish face watching him from several inches away. Blinking a couple of times and opening both eyes as he did so, he came to the realization that yes, yes there was a red-eyed pony right in front of him, with a horn in the middle of her forehead glowing an electric blue.

A cautious look around told him that he was still in the same shed he had taken shelter in last night, and that he was currently floating several inches off the floor.

"Yesterday was not my day…" Iroh began, "Is today looking any better?"

"Depends… you as mean as you're ugly?"

"You are no prize yourself, miss air bender. I am just an old man who seems to be a little lost."

"Now _that_ has got to be the most interesting thing I have heard in a long time." She ended her levitation spell abruptly, causing Iroh to fall to the ground with a short cry and a thump, followed by a small wheeze of pain.

"Oh right… hospital escapee. You good?"

"I'll live," Iroh groaned as he sat up, massaging the small of his back, "but was that really necessary?"

"You dissed my awe inspiring beauty, of course it was!" Vinyl's cheeky grin was growing again. "So. You got a name? Or do I get to give you one?"

"Iroh." The old man announced as he turned and started fishing through his bag, keeping one eye on the rather forward mare. "Now for the important question, do you drink tea?"

Vinyl blinked at the non-sequitur, "Well yeah, but not much though. I prefer juice."

"Good enough." Iroh half muttered as he loaded several pinches of powder from different canisters into his teapot, followed by a good amount of water from one of his skins.

Retrieving a mug from his pack and setting it before himself, he gave a dubious look at the pony standing in the doorway in front of him before setting out a second mug.

"You drink your tea cold? I know its good like that in the summer when its hot, dude, but its way too cold out now… for…"

Vinyl trailed off as she watched Iroh pour the steaming tea into her mug.

"Woah! Magic teapot? That's pretty wild."

Iroh raised an eyebrow at this. "Considering there was only one known air bender in the world before I met you, I could say the same thing about you."

"What's an air bender?" This was of course asked at the perfect moment for Iroh to receive a lungful of hot tea.

It took a minute for him to get over his coughing fit, cursing himself for being taken by surprise so completely. "If…" *ahem* "If you were not floating me by using air bending, then what _were_ you using?"

"Uh… magic? You know? Levitation?" Vinyl didn't know whether to be amused or concerned. Here she was talking with a human who used a magic teapot, and he didn't know about levitation?

"And what is this 'air bending' anyway? That's the third time you have mentioned it, and I still have no idea what you mean."

Iroh stopped and tried to think this through logically. "Do you know anything about bending? Anything at all?"

"Um… I know about bend_ers_, I go on them every now and then with some of my friends to ya know, get drunk and stuff, but I get the feeling that that is not what you are talking about at all."

Iroh took a slower sip of his tea as he collected his thoughts. "Among my people, there are those born with the ability to manipulate one or more of the four major elements - fire, water, earth and air. Sometimes small variations in these abilities arise, such as sand or mud bending, but we will ignore them for now."

Slipping into his lecturing mode, the words came more easily to Iroh now, "To bend an element means different things to different users. To some, it is a partnership, to others, they command their element by forcing it to obey their will. For most, it is somewhere in between. To all of them, it allows them a degree of control with their element that can be used for many things."

"Right," Vinyl drawled, "So its magic relating to a certain talent."

Iroh pinched the bridge of his nose. "I get the feeling we are painting with different brushes."

"Painting what now?"

"It is a metaphor, we each have knowledge the other does not and it is confusing us." Iroh dismissed, "would you care to come into sit and discuss? I suspect this conversation will take some time and patience on both our parts."

"TIME?!" Vinyl backed out slightly to turn her head and look at the sun steadily rising in the sky. "Oh man, I was supposed to do something, and I'm gonna be late!" She looked back and forth between the direction of town and Iroh, dancing on her front hooves.

"You stay here, or better yet, go into the house. The donkey who lives there is away on vacation, I think, and it's nicer in there. Just don't mess with her stuff. I'll come back and jam with you later."

Before Iroh could open his mouth fully to agree or disagree, Vinyl raced away from the shed and back in towards town.

Blinking a couple of times at her speedily retreating form, only one thing seemed to pop into his head, 'What is a donkey?'

* * *

It was shortly before noon when a haggard Zuko stumbled into a village on the shore of West Lake. It was one of two lakes that bordered Serpent's Pass, the thin strip of land connecting the Northern edge of the Si Wong desert to the territory dominated by the great walled city of Ba Sing Se. His tired eye glanced over the shop fronts that made up the main street of the small fishing village.

Pausing a moment, he looked at the last few shops he had passed a second time. That last shop he had passed was a tea shop, much like the one his Uncle Iroh had been so vocally dreaming of opening scant moments before his disappearance almost two days ago now.

A wave of nostalgia for his uncle hit him, shortly by a half forgotten memory of several sessions of seemingly nonsensical training. With a grimace at what he was about to do, he turned back and walked into the tea shop.

Nodding faintly at the gaunt man at a pai sho table who had looked up at him as he passed, he approached the old man sitting behind the counter where several kettles sat steaming slowly over hot coals.

Zuko looked at the small list set on the wall, proclaiming around a dozen varieties of tea and their prices. Making a choice, he slid a couple of coins onto the counter. "Keemun tea, please."

The coins were scooped up, and the man wordlessly turned, filling a wooden cup with the sweet tea that smelled slightly of plum, and placed it on the counter before him.

Zuko nodded his thanks as he took up the cup and wandered back across the teahouse to gaze at the pai sho board that the thin man was studying.

"You play pai sho, boy?" The words of the man were gruff, yet friendly at the same time, somewhat matching his rail thin figure and wild, spiky brown hair.

"A little," Zuko admitted, taking a sip tea. 'Hmm, not bad. I wonder why uncle doesn't keep any of this tea in his stock?'

The older man eyed him speculatively. "Care for a game then? I've met precious few players here these days."

At Zuko's nod of assent, the older man made a few markings of a sheet of parchment that had been sitting to his side and then cleared the board for a new game.

Placing a box of pieces in front of the seat across from him, the man made a slight sweeping gesture, as though he was being very generous, "You may make the first move."

Zuko flicked through the round chips, looking at several carefully for a moment before placing a chip with a stylized lotus bloom in the centre of the board.

The man frowned down at the board before raising a shaggy eyebrow at Zuko.

"I see you favor the White Lotus gambit. Not many cling to the ancient ways."

The boy gave a shrug, "My uncle taught me that those who do can always find a friend."

The man's frown deepened into a scowl for several seconds as he considered the words of the young man in front of him before a slow smirk creased his features.

Without breaking eye contact with Zuko, he reached into his own box and withdrew a piece and very deliberately placed it near the edge of the board. "Then let us play."

The quiet clicking of pieces was the only sound in the shop for the next several minutes, sweat forming on Zuko's brow as he concentrated on mimicking the pattern his uncle had drilled into him with surprising ruthlessness, despite never completely answering his reasons for doing so.

The scarred young man gave a sigh as he placed a final piece, completing the image made from pieces on the board. It resembled and eight pointed star, or more precisely, the picture of the flower bloom on the White Lotus piece still sitting in the middle of the board.

The old man stared at the board for several seconds, glancing up a few times at Zuko's weary face.

He stood from his seat and growled out "Come with me." before turning on his heel and striding out the door, not even looking back to see if he did follow.

Zuko blinked in surprise for a moment before scrambling to snatch up his backpack and dashing out the door to follow the man out the door and village.

* * *

Zecora walked into Ponyville to find the streets almost deserted, shutters on windows closed and a nervous energy in the air.

She eyed her surroundings cautiously as she made her way to the marketplace. There she found very few ponies out shopping and all with frightened looks on their faces.

Making a decision, she trotted over to the trio of sisters tending to the flower stall she needed to visit for some potion ingredients she could not normally gather in the forest.

"Very few ponies I am finding here, what is it that has you gripped with fear?"

"A _monster_ fell out of the sky yesterday! It's been stalking the town all night." came the nervous explanation.

"It was bigger than a minotaur, and it breathes _fire_!" the second sister blurted, a gleam of terror in her eyes.

"Bigger than a minotaur and breathes fire? Would it be a dragon, I must inquire."

"Ah heard from my sister who was there when it landed that it wore armor of some kind, and it had a big hairy head!" A nearby shopkeeper butted in, eager to share his gossip.

"I saw one of the mares who moved out here from Canterlot tracking its hoof prints this morning. I hope she's ok…" the celery seller on the other side of the flower shop added.

Of course, it was at that moment Vinyl Scratch came racing down the main road, galloping like the hounds of Tartarus were snapping at her tail. She sped through the market, not even acknowledging any of the ponies calling out to her.

"IT'S CHASING HER! IT'S GONNA EAT US!" One of the more panicky mares screamed, immediately setting the rest of the market to terror again and causing all who could to leap for cover behind the nearest carts or shop fronts. One earth pony mare somehow ending up hiding amongst the leaves of a nearby tree, her tail hanging conspicuously below her bolthole.

Zecora scanned the suddenly deserted square with unrestrained scorn. "This song and dance I have seen before, but to make me cower, I need something more."

Swirling her cloak around as she turned, she allowed the hood to cover her head, staring in the direction that the blue-maned mare had come racing from and waiting to see what had the locals just as afraid, if not more so, as when she had first come to town more than a year ago.

After almost a minute of silence and ponies nervously peeking out from behind their carts, Zecora decided nothing was coming and turned to coax the stall keepers out from under their carts and into selling their wares.

Chasing the imaginings of these ponies could often be a fools errand, better to stay alert and help out where she could, and for that, she would need ingredients. *Sigh* 'A zebra's work is never done, not even with the setting of the sun...'


	6. Chapter 6

Vinyl was panting heavily as she opened the door to her home, the all-out race to get home and wake up Bonbon having tired her out more than she expected.

She stumbled towards the stairs only to grind to a halt when she heard voices coming from the kitchen down the hall.

Sticking her head in the door, Vinyl found Bonbon sitting at the table drinking coffee with Octavia, her mane still mussed from sleep.

"So there you are." came Octavia's remark as she looked up and saw Vinyl entering the kitchen.

Vinyl winced as she crossed to the sink and filled a glass with cool water "Sorry I'm late, I took longer than I thought while I was out."

Octavia clucked her tongue, "When I woke up and noticed Bonbon in your bed, I guessed something like that had happened. Did you put the note on her stall in the market?"

"Yup, did it first thing this morning."

Bonbon spoke up for the first time, "Did you manage to find out what happened to Lyra or the human by any chance?"

"No sign of Lyra this morning, who knows what she is up to. The human escaped the hospital last night though..." Vinyl scratched her neck, and Octavia pounced, recognising the nervous tick for what it was.

"You know more than that!" she accused, "Did the human hurt somepony? Does anypony know where he went?"

Sighing after she had gulped down her water, Vinyl elaborated as she moved to take a seat at the table, "I have a fair idea of where he probably is."

It was clear Octavia was getting impatient with her playing coy, as she half stood from her seat to lean in towards Vinyl. "And?"

Vinyl sat back and stated as nonchalantly as she could, "I already met the human, he's cool."

"YOU WHAT?!" Bonbon shouted, leaping out of her seat in surprise.

"Yeah, that's what held me up from coming to you wake up. I found the human and jammed with him for a bit."

Octavia sat down again, "Please tell me you weren't involved in letting him loose from the hospital?"

"Nah, he was long gone from there. He was in the shed out the back of Matilda's place."

"Matilda?" the question came from both Bonbon and Octavia at the same time, although the reasons were different.

Vinyl looked to Octavia, "You remember that nice donkey mare we met on the train coming down from Canterlot last Fall?"

A look of recognition dawned on Octavia's face, "Yes, of course. She was lovely, but I thought you got bored of our conversation. How do you even know where she lives?"

"I helped her repair the turntable on her gramophone not long after we moved in." Vinyl's smile was a tad smug, it was not often she could surprise Octavia.

"Oh yes, I remember now, but what about the human? What is he like?"

"Hmm… how to describe him…" Vinyl sat back on her haunches while she thought, "You ever see a minotaur?" She asked Bonbon. "Think like that but no horns and different legs."

"Ugh. There was a minotaur in town at the start of last summer giving motivational speeches." Bonbon was scowling at the memory.

"I take it he was no good?" Octavia asked gently.

"Oh no, Iron Will was too good. When it was Cherry Berry's and my turn to haul the market trash out to the composting yards, he had made one of the local pegasi go completely _crazy_! She bucked our carts so hard that they dumped all the trash right on our heads!"

Octavia winced at this. "Wow… that's not good. Who was it? Any pony we might know?"

"It was Fluttershy, she tends to the animals in the area."

"Yellow pegasus with a long pink mane?" Octavia inquired, almost fearfully.

"You've met her?"

A light blush started to rise on Octavia's cheeks "She saved my quartet from that crazy Pinkie Pie filly at the Grand Galloping Gala last month."

Bonbon seemed impressed, "Wow, how'd she manage to do that?"

"She went insane and set the entirety of Princess Celestia's menagerie on the guests in the ballroom."

Octavia and Bonbon both looked in surprise at Vinyl as she snorted, then giggled. Hurriedly jamming a hoof over the front of her mouth, Vinyl stumbled from the kitchen and shouldered her way out the back door.

"BAH! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Octavia sighed at her housemate's antics, "You see what I have to deal with? At least she didn't hear about Pinkie Pie forcing us to play the Pony Pokey at the Gala…"

"Meep!" Octavia looked sharply back at Bonbon, who had both hooves stuffed in front of her mouth and tears streaming down her face, which held a rictus of restrained hysterics.

The cellist held her head in one fetlock and made a shooing motion at Bonbon with her other fore hoof. "Go on, let it out…"

Seconds later, the confectioner was out the door, howling her mirth to the sky right alongside Vinyl Scratch.

It took a little while for them to calm down, since they kept on bursting into laughter again as soon as they caught sight of one another, but the two eventually returned to the kitchen, and the sympathetically amused cellist waiting for them with her coffee in hoof.

"Now that you are quite finished," Octavia crooned with an arched eyebrow, "Human. Details. Now."

"Wow. Eager much, Octy?"

"I hauled that thing halfway across town on my back, and not a single pony lifted a hoof to help. I think if_anypony_ deserves to know what he is like, it is me." Octavia flicked her short mane back as she tossed her head imperiously.

"Alright, alright." The DJ groused. "The short version for now, since I'm tired. I went to the market and put up Bonbon's note," Bonbon's eyes widened at this, before she dashed out the door, much to the others' bemusement, "and I spotted some of his tracks near her cart. His hooves are huge, by the way, made it seriously easy to follow where he went."

"I followed him back here. He sat just over there for a bit," Vinyl gestured with a hoof out the window, "then his tracks wandered a bit until I found him asleep in that little shed out the back of Matilda's place. I was gonna levitate him out and bring him over to the library so the crazy nerd over there could take a look at him, but he woke up before I could even get him out the door."

"Oh dear," Octavia worried, "he wasn't angry, was he?"

"Nah. Spoke mostly in riddles though, worse than a zebra at some bits. I kinda forgot he was hurt and dropped him, but he didn't seem to mind much. Just sat up and started making tea."

"Making tea?" Octavia was slightly skeptical.

"Yeah, darndest thing, he's even got some kind of magic teapot. Put in cold water and tea leaves and pour out hot tea, just like that. No fire, no stove, nothing. Then he got a little weird, started talking about bending things and painting pictures with different brushes, crazy weird. Tea was good though." Vinyl paused for breath a moment, trying to remember the confusing conversation.

"Then I remembered about waking up Bonbon and ran back home. Oh, I told Iroh, that's the human's name, to go rest in Matilda's place since she's still not back from Shanghay."

Octavia looked dubiously at Vinyl, "Are you sure that was wise? It _is_ somepony else's home after all…"

"It should be fine, he was kind of uptight, so I don't think he will mess with her stuff. Besides, I wanna be there when Lyra finally meets him. Something tells me it will be awesome!" Vinyl gave a false evil cackle as she rubbed her hooves together.

* * *

Three fillies, a rather large stallion and an old mare were working in a barn.

"This is a joke!" Scootaloo complained from where she was helping Apple Bloom stack bags of seed left over from the year's planting.

Sweetie Belle looked up from where she was helping Granny Smith repair baskets that had been damaged by water over the previous winter, "I kind of like it," her high voice piped in, "basket weaving is fun! I wouldn't mind getting a cutie mark with this."

Granny Smith chuckled, reaching over to prod a couple of strands on Sweetie's basket that were crooked into place with a practiced hoof.

"Better than doin' nothin' and bein' bored, right Big Mac?" Apple Bloom grinned, coming to know how impatient Scootaloo had been these last few days.

Big Mac looked up a moment at the mention at his name before turning back to the plow blade he was sharpening in the corner. "Eeyup."

"But it's an awesome day outside, we could be exploring or something!"

"Just be patient," Granny Smith lectured, "first we get the jobs for the day done, then we have some fun. 'Sides looks like we'll be done soon anyway."

Scootaloo groaned, but carried on her work, buzzing her wings to provide the extra lift needed to get the bags neatly on top of the pile.

"What about going to have a look at the blackberry bush in the park once we're done here?" Sweetie Belle spoke up after a few seconds.

Scootaloo looked at Sweetie dubiously from atop the sacks of seeds."What's so great about that? We see it all the time."

Granny Smith looked on with interest as Sweetie stammered out a reply, "I - I was wondering what got that unicorn so excited last night…"

"Now, which unicorn was that?" Granny asked.

"I don't know her name, but I see her with the candy mare all the time. She's green with a white stripe in her mane. She was kinda scary, like Twilight was before she put a spell on that doll…"

"Miss Lyra?" Big Mac's voice surprised the other four.

"You know her, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup!"

Apple Bloom hung her head in exasperation at her monosyllabic brother for a moment. She hated when he played twenty questions.

"Do you know where she lives?"

"Nnope!"

Sweetie Belle, being slightly quicker on the uptake than her friends asked a question that needed more than a yes or no. "How _do_ you know her?"

"Eight golden delicious and four honey crisps every Tuesday." Big Mac's sly smile caused the three fillies to groan while Granny Smith chuckled at her grandson's little joke on the fillies.

The stallion gave the plow he was working on one final critical look and decided it was sharp enough.

"Ah'm takin' this back to Carrot Top."

The fillies looked pleadingly at Granny Smith who chuckled at the question in their eyes.

"All righ'. You youngin's get the last bag on the pile, and you can go play."

The three fillies cheered as Sweetie Belle jumped up from her almost 'fixed' basket, and ran to help her friends get the final bag on top of the stack. With victorious cries, they dashed for the door to the barn.

"Y'all be back by sundown now!" Granny hollered after them, receiving a trio of affirmative shouts as they headed for town. The elderly mare smiled before giving a tired sigh and turning back to her basket.

* * *

A green unicorn swam back to consciousness with a groan, her head aching abominably. Moving carefully, she sat on the edge of the bed, her rear legs hanging over the side as she massaged her temples with the knuckles of her fetlocks.

"So you're awake." The voice was distinctly icy and certainly NOT Bonbon's.

Forcing her eyes open, Lyra caught sight of a nurse, her white coat and pink mane identifying her as Nurse Redheart, and she looked very annoyed with the unicorn looking back at her.

"Why am I here?" Lyra wondered aloud.

"That's what I want to know. Nurse Sweetheart told me you came charging into the hospital in last night and caused a huge ruckus. She had to have you sedated before you hurt somepony."

Lyra's brow furrowed in thought for a moment before the events of the previous day struck her, "The human! Somepony told me the human was here, and I had to see him before he got away! I have to get proof!"

"Oh we got proof alright, but the human isn't here anymore."

"What? How? Where did he go?"

Redheart's frown deepened. "The _how_ is easy, the noise you made woke everypony in the hospital, including the human. Where? I have no idea, but he is injured and he _should_ still be here!"

The nurse stalked forward, turning Lyra's expression nervous as Redheart growled. "I don't care if he's a human, a pony or a stinking diamond dog, but the fact is it's your fault one of MY patients has run off. I will make you a deal, you find my patient and bring him back, and maybe, _just maybe_, I won't report you to the Town Watch as a _public menace_. Understood?!"

Lyra, now bundled against the bed's headboard in terror of the menacing nurse, could only nod her head rapidly.

"Well? What are you waiting for? A gilded invitation? GET! OUT!" The nurse all but roared the last two words, causing Lyra to stumble past her, race past the pair of orderlies outside the ward and gallop out of the hospital as if her tail was on fire.

Nurse Redheart stepped out of the ward a few moments later and calmly adjusted her cap.

"That sounded fun," the stallion to her right grinned.

Redheart flashed him a bright smile and a nod before turning to carry on with her rounds.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lyra had reached the bottom of the hill that the hospital sat on in full gallop, finally slowing to a trot and then to a stop as she got out of sight.

Sitting down, she tried to get her heart rate and her throbbing head under control. "Note to self, don't mess with the nurses." Lyra groaned.

'Right,' Lyra thought, 'find the human, bring him back, study hands, and get something for my head. Oww.' She paused to revise her previous thoughts, 'Head first, then human.'

Standing shakily to her legs now that the adrenaline had worn off, Lyra stumbled back towards her home, where she could find an ice pack for her head and food for her stomach. She realised she had not eaten in almost a full day!

Lyra was so preoccupied with her predicament, that she barely registered that the streets were quieter than usual and that the marketplace, normally bustling with activity at this time of day, had barely anypony there.

Minutes later, Lyra was in her kitchen, a tall glass of milk in front of her as she crunched her way through a couple of apples. She gulped down her milk, tossed the cores in the bin, and headed off to bed to sleep off her headache. She would wake up when Bonny was home and get her to help with looking for the human.

That decided, she placed her head under a pillow and tried to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Zuko jogged alongside the puffing older man as he made his way along the shore of the lake, their sandals leaving prints that were soon washed away by the rhythmic tides.

He had given up questioning the man after a solid fifteen minutes of travel, no answers were forthcoming and none were likely to come until they got to their destination.

Reaching a bend in the beach, where the great river joined the West Lake, the man turned left and carried on a couple of minutes more before veering into the woods. Zuko almost missed his companion turning off the beach and had to turn sharply to maintain line of sight with him.

It was not long until they came upon a simple log cabin, an area cleared for several yards in all directions from it. A man with a shock of thick white hair and a thin moustache and beard sat to one side of the house, opening his eyes at the sound of approaching visitors.

"Ah, Chey. It is unusual to see you at this time of the day, and with a guest as well. What is the occasion?"

Chey tried to appear casual as he spoke, though the effect was ruined by his slight panting, "Master Jeong, I met this young pai sho player today. I believe you are a friend of his Uncle's"

Jeong stood smoothly and approached the pair, Zuko looking on slightly nervously. Jeong eyed Zuko, taking in his worn clothing and his weary look before his eyes widened slightly in recognition of who was standing before him.

"Young Prince, welcome to my little home away from home. Is your Uncle well?"

Zuko startled slightly at the salutation until he saw the faint smile on the elder man's face and his inquiry about Uncle Iroh. "I," he swallowed thickly a moment to maintain his suddenly shaky composure, "I don't know. He disappeared two days ago, and I cannot find him."

Jeong frowned thoughtfully, "Odd. Did he tell you where he was going?"

"Not a word, sir." Zuko explained, "We were in the middle of a conversation, walking along the North Gaipan Trail when he just vanished. One second he was there, the next, I turned, and he was gone."

Chey and Jeong both frowned at this. Iroh was not known for disappearing suddenly and for no good reason.

"Do you think it could have been earth benders?" Chey speculated.

Zuko shook his head. "That was the first thing I checked for. No dirt puckering, no usable rock faces nearby, nothing to indicate earth bending at all. There wasn't even a sound to indicate something happened, and you know how noisy earth bending is."

Jeong frowned in thought, "Did you track his footprints?"

"Yes, they got to a certain point and then they just faded away. I spent a whole day searching for him and the next night. I spent most of yesterday and this morning getting into the village where I met Chey here."

At this Chey spoke up. "Speaking of meetings, you said your uncle taught you pai sho. Did he ever tell you anything about the game we played this afternoon?"

Zuko shook his head, "Only that board design and the words. He told me if he was ever captured or killed, to find a pai sho player in a tea house and use that to get help. I assume you are a spy ring of some sort?"

Jeong chuckled at the guess, "You could say that. We are part of a group that seeks balance within the elements, often training in the other styles for insight that allows us to expand our abilities. Iroh was one such person."

Zuko was now slightly wary, his hands twitching as if he wanted to grasp at the twin dao swords strapped to his back "You are both benders?"

At this both men grinned before holding up a hand, each had a small ball of fire crackling over their palms. "Young prince, you are either incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky."

Jeong's voice was jovial, even if his face was stoic. "You managed to meet the only two of your uncle's colleagues who are also fire benders. From the sound of things, he was grooming you to join our ranks at the very least."

Zuko scowled at the pair, not impressed in the least. "I don't have time for spy games. I need to find the Avatar."

As Zuko turned to stalk away, Jeong spoke harshly. "Finding the Avatar will not restore your honor you know?"

Zuko halted, his back turned to the two and his body stiff. "What would _you_ know about honor, deserter?"

"I know that bringing destruction and pain down upon entire peoples is no way to bring honor to yourself or your Nation. I know that sacrificing the lives of hundreds of loyal men just to provide a distraction is foolish and a betrayal of their trust in every sense of the word." Here, Jeong stepped forward and placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder as the young man bowed his head, somehow knowing what was coming next.

"I know that scarring your own son and sending him on a fools errand is beyond heartless and displays a lack of integrity that few can mistake."

Jeong breathed heavily through his nose, his sorrow clear in his voice. "As I told a young water bender I met once; Fire can only bring destruction and pain. It forces those of us blessed, and cursed, with its burden to walk the razor's edge between humanity and savagery. It can and will tear you apart eventually."

"And I suppose you want to teach me?" Zuko's voice was at the same time sarcastic and hopeful as if he dared not hope that the former admiral of the Fire Nation Navy would deign to teach him.

Chey smiled widely at his friend, Cheong glanced harshly back at him a moment before smirking at Zuko who was now looking back over his shoulder with his good eye narrowed.

"I don't need to teach you fire bending and I don't intend to. Of course if in the course of my teachings you should happen to pick up a skill or two, I won't protest."

Zuko's eye widened first in surprise, then narrowed in thought at the implications of the man's proposal, but his next words nearly stopped his heart.

"No, I intend to instruct you in how to teach the young Avatar."

* * *

Iroh blinked at the retreating form of the pony who had called herself Vinyl Scratch. 'What an odd name, and certainly an interesting young… lady?' He had no idea what to call the pony who had interrupted his rest.

'Well, now that I'm up, it is probably best that I find something to eat.'

Stretching as he stood, Iroh stowed his tea cups and evaporated the leftover tea in his teapot before hanging that on the side of his pack on its dedicated clip.

He hefted his pack before looking up at the clear sky. "Need to find a new hat too…" He grumbled to himself.

He noted what appeared to be several very large birds high in the sky. Deciding they were too high and too fast moving to shoot down, he climbed on top of a pile of firewood near the shed to get his bearings now that he could look around in the daylight.

The town before him seemed to be made up entirely of cottages and houses in a myriad of colors, no single color seemed to be dominant, and he could see no flags from where he stood.

Turning to look the other way, he noted that the town petered out only a few houses away, giving way to rolling green fields with mountains in the distance. A river flowed past the last of these houses with several bridges dotting its length for the locals to cross.

To both the left and the right of the fields were forests, one relatively young looking, with trees much more widely spaced, the other with dense, tall trees and a thick canopy. The darker and more tightly packed forest gradually gave way to a swamp in the distance.

Iroh studied the two forests at a distance, wishing he had a spyglass with him. The lighter forest seemed to be mostly inhabited by small birds at this distance, possibly the odd burrowing animal given that the widely spaced trees would allow for looser, more easily dug soil.

The darker forest echoed with the sounds of wildlife within, the howling of a wolf echoing from the forest telling him that not all animals in that region would be prey.

Looking at the swamp further down, he quickly dismissed it, not only for the extra distance he would have to travel, but also because he had no interest in finding out whether or not it was infested with catigators the hard way.

Deciding the dark forest would likely provide the best opportunities for catching some lunch (and possibly some dinner too), Iroh climbed down from the top of the wood pile and started making his way out the front of the home in front of the shed he had hidden in last night, marking its appearance in case he needed to come back later for a bolt hole, as dubious and possibly known as it was.

'It never hurts to be thoughtful as a guest.' He thought as he was closing the front gate behind him.

Iroh turned to head towards the nearby bridge and out of town when he heard a high-pitched voice, "Hello mister, are you our new neighbor?"

Iroh twisted to look behind himself and then back again to look in the other direction, before looking down. Barely more than an arms length away, was a two-foot tall lavender filly with a turquoise mane looking up at him curiously.

"You're tall!" she said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Chuckling gently, Iroh knelt down to get a closer look at the youngling. "I am merely a guest," he said, "however, it is very nice to meet you little one."

"What's your name?"

"I am called Iroh, my lady." Iroh gave a playful courtly bow, making the filly giggle.

"I'm Aura! Nice ta meetcha!" The filly sprang about a little, a bundle of barely contained energy.

"A pleasure, miss Aura," Iroh's stomach growled, "However as you can hear, it is my lunch time, and I must go gather my food."

"OK mister, Buh-bye!" The filly waved with her foreleg before springing off back towards town, humming as she went, much to the amusement of the old man. It seemed kids everywhere were pretty much the same.

"It seems to be a day for surprises," Iroh said as he stood up and started walking, "I can only hope any more surprises are as pleasant as that one."

* * *

Iroh bolted through the trees, his arms pumping hard as he cursed the temerity of his luck and his earlier words which some wretched spirit had obviously overheard. Behind him, a trio of wolves made of wood loped easily through the underbrush, clearly having no trouble keeping up with him.

Glancing carefully left and right as he (LOG!) dodged through the trees, Iroh looked for (BRANCH!) a more open area where he could make use of his fire bending without potentially setting (BRANCH!) half the forest alight.

'There!' Iroh shouted in his mind, his lungs burning too hard to do so physically.

Barreling his way into what he thought was a clearing, but was in fact a curve in a well travelled path within the forest. Iroh startled a black and white striped pony who was only yards away from the place he entered the clear area.

Iroh spun, placing his back against a large tree on the other side of the path even as he inhaled deeply, preparing for the first of these wooden horrors to follow.

'Good thing about a wooden monster? It burns!' He reflected as he exhaled powerfully, a cone of intense flame beginning just in front of his mouth and engulfing the foremost of his pursuers instantly, its yelps of pain shrill and short-lived.

The other two timberwolves burst into the path on either side of him, one right next to the pony who was now staring at him with enormous eyes, frozen in place.

A punch to the right sent a bolt of flames from the now-smoldering remains of the first wolf powerfully into the beast that was in the clear, sending it tumbling head-over-heels, yelping its distress as it fell to pieces.

An acrobatic arching kick fired a second bolt streaking over the head of the onlooker to strike the rear of his third and final assailant, causing the wolf to shatter on impact, some of it's pieces smoldering and vibrating on the forest floor.

Landing slightly awkwardly, Iroh stumbled, before straightening and proceeding to extinguish the flames and embers that were still alight with a rapid clenching of his fist.

Iroh put his back to the tree again and slumped slightly, winded from excessive running for an old man. As he absentmindedly groped for a waterskin with one hand, the zebra overcame her shock.

"Taller than a minotaur you are not, but your breath is most decidedly hot."

Iroh looked at the rhyming pony quizzically. "Ah, thank you, I think."

The zebra watched Iroh carefully as he took a swig from his waterskin, trying to decide if he was dangerous to her or just to timberwolves.

"If I pass you on this path, will I need to face your fiery wrath?" She asked, her head tilted to one side, smiling slightly.

"Hm? Oh no, of course not. I am merely out hunting for my lunch, I am sorry for having disturbed your travels." Iroh bowed slightly to her, gesturing with one hand and spilling some of his water in the process.

"If it is your stomach that needs some filling, to provide a meal, Zecora will be willing."

Iroh was a little confused, would this one speak only in rhyme? "Thank you, would you be able to point me in the direction of this 'Zecora'? I'm afraid I am not from around here."

"You do not have to look far you see, for that is I, Zecora of the Everfree!" Zecora tossed her head at her pronouncement. "Come, follow me stranger. More for meal, less for danger."

Iroh smiled as she brushed past him and carried on up the path, her saddlebags piled high with vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Deciding to try and get a little into the spirit of the encounter, Iroh tried his hand at mimicking Zecora's verbal quirk. "My name, just so you know, is short and sweet Iroh."

Zecora laughed gaily at his attempt at rhyme. "Short you are not, and sweet maybe, but your toasty breath marks you as spicy."

Their banter carried on, fading into the distance as Iroh followed Zecora down the path to her home and a meal.

* * *

Deep in a cave, two voices rumbled through the darkness.

"I cannot feel him, Shao, our light of life amongst the dark fires is gone."

"Soon dawns the third day since he has vanished, Ran."

"If he cannot kindle the fires of purity, who will?"

"We must watch and wait. I do not sense his spirit, so he has not been extinguished yet…"

"So we shall find him?"

"And those who have hidden him."

"And when we find them, we shall Ignite."

"We will Burn."

Twin sets of red eyes flared to life in the darkness.

"WE WILL IMMOLATE THE INTERLOPER!"


	8. Chapter 8

**WHAM!**

"LYRA! I'M HO-OME!" The bellowing cry of the Tartarus-spawned Head Splitter, also known as Bonbon pierced Lyra's headache spawned fugue like a 12 hoof gong in a classical concerto.

"Uuuhhhhhh!" she moaned, trying to stuff her head under the pillow again, only to knock her horn against one of her hooves and sparking another spike of agony through her brain.

**CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP**

The sounds of Bonbon's movements felt like she was walking directly on her forehead. Lyra's horn throbbed in time with her heartbeat.

"Oh wow. You don't look so good Lyra. Are you ok? You look a little… teehee.. green!"

The response to Bonbon's tasteless little jab was a pillow that flew gracelessly over her left flank. Bonbon glanced back towards the pillow before refocusing on Lyra's pained face and winced in sympathy as she noted her bloodshot eyes and intermittently sparking horn.

"I'll go get you some water," she whispered, turning and treading as softly as she could back towards the kitchen.

When Bonbon returned, Lyra was on her back, her head hanging slightly off the edge of the bed, her legs dangling feebly in the air. With some effort, Bonbon got her flipped the right way up and placed the glass of cool water against her lips, helping Lyra to slowly drink the water.

"Do you need me to go get the doctor or one of the nurses?" Bonbon asked quietly.

Lyra's ears flattened in fear. "No. No nurses!"

Bonbon sighed. "Well you obviously need something, your head must be really bad if you're sparking like that. What about Zecora? The walk and fresh air will probably do you some good too."

"Dun wanna go in Everfree at night. Too scary." The minty unicorn moaned.

Bonbon rolled her eyes, before she trotted over to open the curtains, letting the sunlight, in much to Lyra's displeasure. "Night isn't for another four or five hours, we have plenty of time to go in and out."

Lyra shielded her eyes against the sun as best she could. "Wha? Why are you home so early?"

"When I got to the market, there was hardly anyone around," Bonbon explained, "it wasn't worth opening my store for half a day with so few ponies around."

"Half a day? Where were you this morning then?"

"I was visiting Vinyl Scratch and Octavia last night and I… uh… lost track of time." Bonbon hung her head sheepishly at the confession.

Lyra looked confused, "So you slept there last night?"

At this, Bonbon frowned, recalling exactly where she had been. "Actually, I got there a bit before midnight. Vinyl, Octavia and I were all looking for you. Vinyl gave up last and somehow found you… for a few_seconds_..."

"Oh right…" Lyra had the grace to blush, "That was kind of dumb of me."

Bonbon shook her head in exasperation, "Well, never mind. Let's go get you something for your head, and you can tell me what you know about Mr. Iroh."

Lyra was confused. "Mr. Who?"

'Oh this is going to be fun!' Bonbon thought. 'If she never got to see him, I can get Vinyl to introduce us to the human and maybe keep a rein on Lyra's craziness...'

"Mr. Iroh, you know? The human? You did at least ask him his name didn't you?"

Lyra slumped sadly, "I barely got a glimpse of him before I was buried in orderlies and nurses. They didn't want anypony near him, then when I woke up this morning, Nurse Redheart let me have it. She told me that the human woke up and ran away."

Lyra started sniffling, "Now I'll never get to meet hi-i-im…" She had stopped on their lawn, just as they were about to go out the gate, and burst into tears.

Bonbon hung her head, whether in embarrassment or weariness, she was not sure, but what she _was_ sure of was that this was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

In a train headed south for Ponyville, six mares and a baby dragon were conversing. More accurately, the mares were conversing, and the dragon was playing with a tuning fork.

_TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle… _

A purple unicorn stretched her head and forelegs upwards, giving a sigh as she dropped back to her normal sitting position "It really was nice for Cadence to let us stay with her and Shiny for a couple of extra days."

_TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle… _

"It certainly was, darling. I even had time to go look for some crystals to include in my next line of fashion." The white unicorn flicked her mane expertly, adding emphasis to her exaltation.

_TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle… _

The eye of the orange earth pony twitched, and narrowed her eyes at the chuckling dragon across from her before she turned back to the rest of her friends. "Ah hear ya, but I'll be happy to get back home to mah family."

_TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle… _

"You know what this calls for? A welcome home party!" The pink mare grinned widely, as she bounced in her seat.

_TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle… _

The yellow pegasus had just opened her mouth to speak, when the blue pegasus shrieked in frustration. "SPIKE! What are you doing?! You're making me _crazy_!

"Huh?" The small green dragon looked up from the small bag filled with gemstones about the size of apples that was sitting in his lap, a garnet in one hand, a still humming tuning fork in the other.

"Oh, I'm testing out these gems I got myself for a present for my birthday."

Pinkie Pie perked up at the pronouncement of her purple pony pal's purple non-pony pint-sized partner. "It's your birthday?" Her party planning grin formed rapidly on her face.

"Not until tomorrow, Pinkie. I'll add these to the fire ruby I've been aging. It's going to be DELICIOUS!" At this, Spike wiped a nail across the surface of the garnet in his claw and sucked on the tip of it, as he obviously relished the flavor.

The girls smiled indulgently at Spike until Rarity sat up in alarm. "Did you say 'delicious'?!"

"Uh huh!" Spike nodded happily. "The garnets will add a nice smoky flavor to my ruby."

"Smoky flavor…" Rarity repeated faintly, her eyes staring into the distance in vague horror at _eating_ a beautiful gem.

Fluttershy glanced between the oblivious baby dragon and the mortified fashionista. "Umm… Spike…" she began, everyone in the carriage other than Rarity turning their heads towards her. "Could you maybe, ummm… please put the gems away for now? That is, it you wouldn't mind?"

"Uhhh sure Fluttershy," Spike was confused. "Was there something wrong?"

Sitting next to him, Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who had been nervously glancing at Rarity, and then back at Spike's gem bag. "Ohhhh…" She exhaled with a look of dawning comprehension before turning to place her muzzle next to Spike's head so she could whisper an explanation to Spike.

The little dragon's eyes widened comically as he realized that what he had been saying had distressed Rarity. "Sorry Rarity…" He mumbles as he tucks the bag of gems behind him guiltily.

"NEXT STOP CROPTON! CROPTON, NEXT STOP!" A conductor hollers as he passed through the carriage, announcing the next station in their journey.

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash muttered with disgust. "I can't wait to get off this train and stretch my wings!"

Applejack was quite amused with the pegasus' impatience, "Hee hee… Y'all just have to wait fer now, Dash. Only another hour or so ah reckon"

The impatient pony grumbled as she hunkered back down on her seat, crossing her forelegs in front of her chest and scowling.

TING! hummm…

"SPIKE!"

* * *

"Any luck girls?"

"Not a thing, Scoots. Half the ponies in the side of town near the hospital are all locked up in their houses and being silly."

"Ah had a little luck, but not much. Somepony in the market told me that a unicorn went looking for him and found him. She came running back through town, completely freaked out."

"Did they say why she was freaked out, Apple Bloom?" inquired Sweetie Belle.

""That's tha thing. Ah asked seven different ponies and got five different stories. The only thing they all agreed on was she went one way hunting the human, and the other way at full gallop a little while later."

"Do you know who it was? Maybe we can ask her."

Apple Bloom looked back toward Scootaloo. "Ah did ask, someone told me her name was something weird… Dee Jay Pone Three." she enunciated the name carefully, trying to make sure she remembered it right. "Nobody knows where she lives, though."

"Maybe we can ask somepony where she lives?" Scootaloo asked hopefully.

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Ah figured that, Scoots, but _who_ do we ask? Pinkie Pie isn't home yet."

"How about the Mayor?" Piped up Sweetie. "She might know!"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked back at Sweetie Belle utterly thunderstruck.

"Sweetie that's _brilliant_!" shouted Scootaloo, bouncing up and punching a fore hoof into the air.

Sweetie Belle struck a pose, head held high, and one hoof curled off the ground as she tossed her curly mane. "See girls? Beauty, and brains."

Apple Bloom took one look at her posing friend before deliberately scraping her hoof on the dirt and swiping it across Sweetie's pure white muzzle.

"HEY!" Sweetie yelled indignantly, only for her earth pony friend to stick her tongue out at her and gallop for the town hall, Scootaloo laughing as she ran right behind her.

"Oooh! I'll get you for that!" she hollered after her friends, wiping at her nose with one hoof as she tried to follow at the same time.

* * *

"Well now, girls." Mayor Mare began, having heard the girl's plea for information. "I'm afraid I don't know where this human is, though I would very much like to meet him myself. As to the address of the mare you are looking for, I would like to know exactly _why_ you are looking for her in particular as well as the human."

"Go ahead Sweetie, tell 'er" prodded Apple Bloom, stepping backwards so she could nudge her friend forward a bit.

"Well, I was asking everypony in the market if they knew where the human was or if they heard anything about him. All I got was a lot of silly stories, but they did say that a unicorn named Dee Jay Pone Three went looking for him and then ran back through town really fast. We just want to ask her what she found. Oh and I want to see if she really did have her tail on fire, 'cause I'll bet that woulda hurt! Maybe I can make her a skirt to hide it if it looks bad."

Sweetie Belle finished with a cute smile on her face, preparing to launch an all out puppy eyes assault if the Mayor was reluctant to give up the 'goods'.

The mayor chuckled at the hilarious mispronunciation of Vinyl Scratch's stage name. "Why in Celestia's name would she have her tail on fire? Anyway I'm surprised you are after her and not Miss Heartstrings. After all, she is our local expert on humans."

The Mayor schooled her face once again, "I'm afraid I can't give you the address of Miss Pon-3. We can't just go giving out personal details willy-nilly you know. Oh and nice pout, girls, A for effort."

The trio of fillies blinked in surprise as Mayor Mare blatantly ignored the patented Cutie Mark Crusader Combined Cutie Stare - guaranteed to get you free candy or your bits back!

"Awwww…" The girls whined.

The mayor looked up as she heard a train whistle in the distance. "Weren't your sisters due back on the train today? If you hurry, you could meet them at the station." She smiled at the fillies. "Oh, and if you do, could you please tell Rainbow Dash to come meet me? We have some weather schedules she needs to look at waiting for her."

Sweetie and Apple Bloom perk up at the mention of their sisters being home soon, Scootaloo even more so at the mention of doing something for her idol, the ever awesome Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turn and race from the room. Sweetie Belle stays for a moment, saying, "Thank you for the help, Miss Mayor!" and darts out after them, calling for her friends to wait for her.

Mayor Mare sits there shaking her head, a faint smile on her face at the antics of the fillies. After a few moments, she stands and wanders down to an office just a few doors down.

"Scribed Scroll," she calls the old stallion sitting behind a desk filled with maps and blueprints, "could you please find me the address of Vinyl Scratch, please? I have some business to take care of this afternoon."


	9. Chapter 9

Iroh knelt on a folded towel, his frame finding it too awkward to sit on the chairs built for the local pony - or in this case, zebra - population.

"I must thank you for your hospitality, Zecora. I was somewhat apprehensive of the reaction of some of the locals after the nurse in the hospital was so easily terrified of me, though I have run across a couple of others who were much more friendly."

Zecora waved Iroh off with a hoof. "My thanks I must also share, good quality tea in Equestria is somewhat rare."

Iroh smiled as he took a sip from his freshly brewed cup of tea.

"This place somewhat confuses me." Iroh confessed. "I have seen no other human in the short time I have been here, only the creatures like yourself that call themselves ponies."

Zecora chuckled at this, "Your confusion I can see, but I am Zebrican, not a pony."

Iroh lightly chuckled as he hoisted his mug of tea towards Zecora in acknowledgement. "My apologies. If that is the case, do the ones with horns also have a different name?"

"If a pony with a horn on its head is born, it is known as a unicorn. If a pony comes with wings, it is a pegasus that fortune brings."

Iroh recalled seeing bird-like creatures high in the sky that morning as he had been making his way out of town. "So those were pegasuses I saw flying around before I came into the woods?"

Zecora smiled gently as Iroh applied the wrong form to his pluralization, "If it was ponies flying in the sky, what you saw were indeed pegasi."

Iroh nodded at the explanation as he watched Zecora float a blob of tea out of his pot and into her freshly emptied cup, her hoof steady as she guided the liquid with a gentle sweep.

"What of this 'magic'? So far I have seen a unicorn floating both myself, a cup and you moving liquids from one place to another. Where I come from, we would call what you do water bending, though you use none of the motions, and if I understand correctly, you need a horn to be able to move things with magic."

Zecora looked at Iroh thoughtfully for a moment. "Perhaps it would be best, to explain our magic and put your curiosity to rest."

When Iroh dipped his head in assent, Zecora stood from her seat and moved over to a nearby shelf.

"We will begin with my own magic, that of the Zebrican Shamen. This, from what I have heard from you, would be closest to your ken."

Zecora scooped a hoofful of green powder from a pouch and blew it into a cloud to the side. Iroh looked on appreciatively as images began to form within its smoky depths.

"A Shaman's power, at its core, comes to us from elements four."

The scene shifted to what appeared to be rounded mud huts, where a zebra sat by a circular fire pit as she struck her forehooves together to cause sparks to fall upon the wood piled before her.

"Like you we have some control of fire, but just a spark compared to your pyre. We use it with this glimmer dust to project a notion, or simply to ease the heating of a delicate potion."

The image dimmed a little as it changed to a scene of a pair of zebra within a hut, one tending to the wounds of another by running a faintly glowing shard along a cut on his flank.

"The glimmer dust is a facet of earth, we use many minerals in the land of my birth. Mud for poultices and crystals for healing, some make gems into traps in case dragons come stealing."

The vision shifted once again, this time showing a group of zebras crossing a savannah, the leader adorned with rings that bore some similarity to Zecora's. The leader closed his eyes for a moment before pointing his hoof forward and slightly to the right.

"Water to us Zebricans carries much meaning, for in the savannahs of Zerbrica, water is not exactly teeming. Those of us with the ability are taught its detection, for it can be a matter of life and death if we fail in its collection."

The crowd of zebras faded away, to be replaced by a zebra shaman facing down a trio of hyenas. With a toss of her mane, the zebra gave off a silent shout, causing the small pack of wild dogs to scatter in terror.

"Our use of wind power is the last to make clear, we use it for sending messages or inducing fear. Though that last use is one I abhor, it is very useful when faced with a predator."

"Now on to the pony tribes, which when taken as a whole, their magic is best described as mind, body, and soul."

A unicorn appeared in the smoke, her horn alight as she floated a trio of apples before her.

"The unicorn's magic varies greatly by vocation, though all possess the ability to use light and levitation. Though many different elements their magic has employed, the greatest of their casters use the concept of the void. For the purposes of this discussion, it is easiest you will find, to consider their magic to be powered by the mind."

The unicorn was replaced by the image of an earth pony, a yoke around his neck as he pulled a plough through a field with little trouble.

"The earth ponies magic is most often hidden from sight, though most often detected through their incredible might. Though most ponies will tell us their element is earth, the truth is they tend to have powerful connections with the lands of their birth. From farming to construction to growing a flower, theirs is considered to be the bodies of most hidden power."

The image of the earth pony sunk as the view moved skyward to focus on a pegasus flapping her wings as she used her forehooves to push a cloud around the sky.

"Finally we come to the pegasi, who are most comfortable when up high. Amongst the clouds these ponies patrol, though most do not know it, their power is not wind but soul. Between their hooves even a cloud may be clutched, for all of them, elder to foal may, interact with what otherwise could not be touched." Zecora waved her hooves, guiding the powder back into a small pouch sitting on the shelf next to her. Once the last of the dust was back in its container, she turned back to Iroh, soothing her now slightly dry throat with a sip of her tea.

"I hope I am not being cavalier in trusting I have helped to make things more clear."

Iroh sat back on his heels as he considered the words of the zebra before him. Contemplating the explanations he had received, he found there was only one detail which he could not fully understand.

"You said the unicorns make use of the concept of the void. I'm not sure I quite understand, do you think you could elaborate on that, or would it be better to find someone with more specialized knowledge in that regard?"

"I'm told the unicorns that use void focus on nothing, or so they say. The best examples of this would be the unicorn fighters who make use of something called the Still Way."

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Fighters you say? Given what I saw from that unicorn that woke me up, getting on the bad side of one of them would not be pleasant."

Zecora frowned as she remembered her own welcome to Ponyville. "While conflict with a unicorn being bad is true, there are few fighters, so it is the talkers that should be more worrisome for you."

Iroh did not like where this was going, "Among my people, a crowd mentality is commonly seen when there is a vocal leader in the group, or even someone who is just particularly vocal. I take it the same is true with ponies?"

"The herding instinct is very strong amongst ponies," Zecora sighed, "What does not make them scatter will sometimes make them freeze. In that state, it would only take the voice of one, to cause the whole group to accept, or the whole group to shun."

The old man looked shrewdly at Zecora, reasoning out the cause of her melancholy tone. "I take it something like that has happened to you?"

"It is true, my arrival caused the town's peace to shatter. The very sight of my walking down the street caused everypony to scatter. It was not long after that I was lifted from my gloom by a brave young filly, named Apple Bloom."

Zecora smiled at the memory. "These days the ponies are much more at ease whenever I venture forth from my home in the trees. I even found suppliers for herbs and flowers easy on the nose, in a trio of lovely mares, the flower growing ponies Daisy, Lily and Rose."

Iroh laughed as he stood to refill the kettle with water and a fresh blend of tea leaves. "I can certainly believe that, this has got to be one of the most relaxing smelling homes I have ever come across."

Iroh placed a hand on either side of the kettle while Zecora looked on in fascination as he heated the water inside. When steam was finally coming from the spout a minute later, he placed the kettle down on the table and reclaimed his spot.

All the better for the two who had travelled so widely in each of their own worlds to share their knowledge and experience.

* * *

The train had finally steamed into Ponyville.

"Ponyville! Now stopping at Ponyville!" A conductor called down the train, moving to open the doors out onto the platform and make way for disembarking passengers.

Seven of these passengers were relieved to finally be free of the train after their long journey from the Crystal Empire, far to the North.

The first of these out the door was Rainbow Dash, the blue pegasus barely stepping onto the platform before she took to the skies.

"YES!" cried Rainbow Dash, "Free at last! I SO need to stretch my wings."

Rainbow Dash proceeded to do some minor acrobatic stunts, revelling in her freedom from the confinement of the cabin she had spent the last day and a half in.

She was followed momentarily by Pinkie Pie, who was grinning at her friend's acrobatic enthusiasm, happy herself to be back home.

Applejack and Twilight followed soon after. Spike was seated on Twilight's back, his bag of gems clutched tightly to his chest. "I'm gonna miss the Crystal Empire." he said fondly, patting the bag.

"You mean you're going to miss the edible houses." Twilight snarked back at her assistant.

"Heh, you got that right." Spike chuckled. "At least now I see why some of the new ponies in town always try to take a chunk out of Sugarcube Corner."

"Teehee! All the better for me to find them!" Pinkie grinned, "I wonder if anypony new came while we were gone? I'm gonna have to throw a few parties to catch up."

Spike looked up thoughtfully from his perch. "What are the chances of somepony new coming to town in the last week anyway?" he asked.

The spring in Pinkie's step increased as she smiled happily. "About a bajillion times higher now that you asked that question! Thanks, Spikey. I wonder who my new friend will be!"

"Ah 'spect you'll find out 'ventually Pinkie," drawled Applejack, "Ah'm just glad ta be home. Ah can't wait to see the family again."

"I can't agree with you more, dear." Rarity had emerged behind them, her luggage levitating to one side so as not to wrinkle her dress. "Do you mind if we go directly to your home? I promised my parents I would go pick Sweetie Belle up from there the moment I got home."

"Sure thing, sugarcube. Ah'll see y'all later everypony." Applejack waved to her companions, already turning towards the road that would take her from the train station to her farm.

"See you soon. Oh, Fluttershy, would tomorrow at two work for you for a visit to the spa?" Rarity turns in time to see Fluttershy nodding to her quietly. "Wonderful! See you then, my dear!"

As the sounds of Applejacks powerful hoof steps and Rarity's dainty trot receded into the distance, Twilight turned to her remaining three friends.

"I think we'll also be heading home. I have a lot of studying to catch up on now that we are back." stated Twilight, "We'll see you all later, OK?"

"Okie dokie, Twilight!" chirped Pinkie, "I'm gonna go look for my new friend!"

Rainbow Dash landed and looked oddly at Pinkie Pie before turning back to the others. "I don't know about finding somepony new in town, but I know I'll need to restock on food. You wanna come with, Flutters?"

Fluttershy smiled at her friend, grateful for the invitation. "Thank you, I'd like that. I need to get some feed for the animals too. That is, if you don't mind…"

"Ooh! Sounds like fun!" Pinkie exclaimed. She turned her head and tilted her ears to listen carefully as she rattled her tail. "I still have some room in my tail, so I'll come get some snacks too. Maybe I can find my new friend there."

"What makes you so sure there's somepony new in town?" Twilight asked, looking slightly confused.

Pinkie giggled at the librarian. "Silly filly! Spikey just made sure of it when he said so."

Spike perked up at this before he looked skywards thoughtfully. His face brightened as an idea came to him. "Bathful of sapphires! Bathful of sapphires! Bathful of sapphires!" he started chanting under his breath, causing Twilight to run her hoof down her face in exasperation at the little dragon.

"C'mon Spike, let's go see your bathtub full of wishes…"

Spike was puzzled as Twilight started walking towards the town, waving to her friends as she passed. "Huh? But I was wanting a bathtub full of sapphires, not wishes…"

Rainbow Dash chuckled at the naivety of the baby dragon as he was carried away by Twilight. She hoisted her saddlebags higher before turning to help adjust Fluttershy's load. "I'll help you carry your shopping home. Your bags are so heavy you might get squashed flat if you do it by yourself."

Fluttershy cringed at the jibe. "Oh dear, but what about your bags? I can walk back home, but you have to fly…"

Rainbow puffed out her chest, "No problem, I'll just zoom back home and drop my bags off before coming to help you out. I'll be back with you girls in ten seconds flat."

As Rainbow Dash zoomed away, Pinkie Pie resumed her bouncing, springing in circles around Fluttershy as she exhorted the pegasus to get moving to the market. "Let's go! The sooner we get there, the sooner we can meet our new friends! Uh oh!"

Fluttershy turned back in alarm to see Pinkie standing there stock still, her mane and tail perfectly straight and both sticking straight out from her body.

"Eep!" Fluttershy squeaked before turning and bolting for town and away from whatever Pinkie's senses are alerting her to.

With a distinct _'FLUMPH'_, Pinkie Pie's hair returned to its normal fluffy curls. After a moment of shaking her head, Pinkie glanced carefully left and right, cranes her head up to scan the sky, then down to look between her legs.

"Oh well," she said, "I'll figure out what that one was eventually."

Spotting Fluttershy's rapidly retreating form in the distance, Pinkie called out "Hey! Wait for me!" before bouncing after her spooked friend.

* * *

In a house somewhere within Ponyville, the curtains are pulled closed by a pony within their bedroom. He steps into the centre of the room and green fire began to flare as the changeling reverted to his normal insectoid form.

He took a deep breath and let it out as he focused on his connection with the hive mind, causing his eyes to glow with blue light as the connection strengthened.

'This is agent Whispering Terror. Insertion successful under primary disguise. Recent event has been exploited to begin fear harvest early. Nine nightmare stones and two curiosity stones have been crystallized and prepared for transport. Awaiting further orders.'

A mild voice rose above the cacophony of the hive mind to speak specifically to the changeling. _'This is cogitator Echoing Truth, Elaborate on the recent event, Whispering Terror.'_

Whispering Terror focused on what it knew to be the mind of a servitor drone, an intermediary of the Queen herself. 'A Non-pony arrived yesterday and was injured. Overnight he escaped the hospital and went into hiding. Measures were successfully taken to exaggerate rumors and intensify suspicion and fear. Harvest of fear at more than 90% success rate.'

There was silence for a moment then another voice came, louder and infinitely more imperious than the mind-voice of the servitor. _**' A description of the non-pony, harvester.'**_ The mind voice was unmistakable, it now had the attention of Queen Chrysalis herself.

'Unconfirmed information places the creature as bipedal, approximately two to three times the mass of an adult drone, my Queen. No known abilities, magical or otherwise. Local rumor names the creature species as 'human' according to a local purported to be an enthusiast of rare and mythical species.'

_**'We will need more information than mere rumor. Change priority of your harvest to emotional neutrality, siphon in small amounts. I will not risk the notice of Celestia's student or her friends at this point. Research this 'human' and replace a different local to do so if necessary.'**_

'By your will, my Queen.


	10. Chapter 10

Applejack and Rarity were walking down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres, their travelling bags in tow, when they heard the distinct sound of a tree being bucked.

**WHOMP!** tok-tok toktoktoktok…

"Ah'd know that sound anywhere!" Applejack exclaimed. She took a deep breath before hollering into the orchard that she and Rarity were walking next to. "Hey Big Macintosh! Where are y'all?"

There was a pause, before the heavy clump of Big Macintosh's hooves was heard ahead and slightly to the left of the two mares. The stallion in question emerged from the rows and looked towards them.

"Applejack. Rarity. Welcome home," he greeted the two mares in his normal understated way.

"Have y'all seen the fillies 'round here Mac? Rares wants to pick up Sweetie Belle and get on home."

"Nnnope. Them fillies went to town a while ago. Lookin' fer Miss Lyra ah suspect."

"Lyra?!" Rarity shouted in horror. "Sweet Celestia, she'll give the fillies even crazier ideas than they normally have!"

"You know her?" Applejack looked slightly nervous at Rarity's reaction to the news.

"Yes, she's constantly going on about mythical creatures and has been trying to emulate some of them." Rarity shuddered at a memory. "She commissioned some odd pieces of clothing from me a few times, gloves for claws and things like that."

Applejack studied the fashionista for a few seconds, before shrugging out of her saddlebags. "Mac, can you take mah bags back to tha house and git tha shampoo? Ah don't need ta be Pinkie to sense tree sap in our future…"

"Eeyup!"

* * *

A door opened to reveal a tan earth pony with a grey mane, a pair of yellow rimmed glasses perched delicately on her nose.

"Good afternoon, I'm looking for a Vinyl Scratch," she greeted the unicorn that answered the door.

"That's me." Vinyl blinked wearily at the pony before her. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, dear. I am Mayor Mare, I'm here to ask you a couple of questions I've been told you would be able to assist me with."

"Sure. C'mon in. Hope you don't mind talking over coffee. Haven't got much sleep last few days." Vinyl stepped back to allow the mayor entry, using her magic to close the door behind her before she turned to slump towards the kitchen.

The mayor smiled apologetically. "Oh dear. I won't trouble you for too long then. Just a few questions and then I will let you rest again."

"Sure." Vinyl flicked on the stove and set the kettle on it to boil while she sat down. "So what d'ya wanna know?"

Mayor Mare sunk much more gracefully into a seat across from the DJ. "I have it on good authority that you came across the creature that we are calling a human this morning. I was wondering if you would be good enough to tell me a bit about where you found him and your impression of him."

"Huh? Oh, no problem. I found Iroh in the shed behind Matilda's place…" Vinyl began.

"... excuse me, but, 'Iroh'"? Mayor Mare interrupted for a moment.

Vinyl grinned lazily, "Everypony's gotta have a name don't they? The human's name is Iroh. Anyway he's cool. He's like an old dude, drinks a lotta tea from that magic teapot of his I bet." Vinyl quickly held up a hoof, forestalling the question she could already see forming on the Mayor's face.

"Yes, Magic. Teapot. He puts in cold water and leaves and pours out hot tea, no glow or nothin' just cold water one moment, hot water the next."

"Very well, magic teapot." The mayor nodded to Vinyl. "Anything else? Anything to give us a clue as to what he wants, where he's from?"

"Uh…" Vinyl tilted her head back in thought. "He seemed a bit obsessed with bending stuff, told me I was bending air or something like that. I don't even know how the dude knew I was a DJ."

The mayor looked carefully at the DJ before her. "Anything else? I was told you came galloping through town like something scared you."

"HA!" Vinyl Scratch barked out a laugh. "I wasn't scared of anything, I was just late for keeping a promise to Bonny."

"Very well." Mayor Mare nodded primly. "Thank you for your assistance, Miss Scratch. I will see myself out, it seems I have much to do today."

"S'all good." Vinyl stood at the same time as the mayor, "Don't be a stranger, yeah? And come by some time to meet Octy. She needs more friends and I think she might like you."

The elder mare smiled kindly as she left, "Thank you, I will keep that in mind."

* * *

Zecora turned in her seat to decisively place her cup on the bench next to her. "Now that I have told you my simple tale, would you tell me of the lands from which you hail?"

Iroh smiled grimly. "Of course, though if what I suspect is true, that I have somehow crossed the barrier between worlds again, most of what I have to say will be of little use other than to satisfy your curiosity."

Zecora jerked her head towards Iroh, her eyes widening rapidly. "You have travelled to another world? Pray tell me how, my curiosity is greatly unfurled."

Iroh's smile rapidly turned into a pained grimace. "That, my dear, is a long story, and one that is best held off until I tell you about my homeland. I suspect, that information will confirm or reject my suspicions better than anything else."

At the zebra's nod of assent, he carried on. "I do not have the fine control to create detailed imagery as you do, but I will do my best, if only to assist in my descriptions. Failing that, would you have some parchment or paper and some charcoal? I am no artist, but a drawn image might be better than one created from flames."

"Charcoal I have in qualities both brown and black, but of parchment and paper, I have a distinct lack."

"Very well then," Iroh allowed, "it looks like I get to practice my art in an entirely new way."

Realizing his own pun, Iroh chuckled lightly as he continued, igniting a ball of fire in first one hand and then the other. "I hail from the largest isle in the Flame Archipelago, known as Capital Island. I was born and raised in the city, _most imaginatively_ named Capital City. Collectively, the archipelago and its inhabitants are known as the Fire Nation."

The flames arched between the orbs hovering above Iroh's hands, attempting to form an image. Iroh frowned as the flames flickered and would not stay in place long enough to display an image of his home.

Zecora watched the dance of the flames between the orbs curiously, waiting to see what the old man before her was trying to do, until they guttered out suddenly, causing her to look back at Iroh.

"My apologies," Iroh rubbed the back of his head, "it seems I simply do not have the skill set to mimic your wonderful dust illusions. I hope you don't mind if I instead use only the canvas of words to paint you an image."

Zecora leaned back on her chair, relaxing into a more comfortable position for listening rather than watching. "Do not worry about painting with fire, we can draw later if your words do not inspire."

Iroh nodded his assent as he carried on. "To the North of the archipelago lies the mountainous island which houses at its pinnacle the Western Air Temple, and far to the South-East, another small island chain which is the home of the Southern Air Temple."

Waving his hand lower, this time without the flames to try to illustrate the map he saw in his head, Iroh carried on. "To the South of the Southern Air Temple lie the freezing arctic lands of the Southern Water Tribes."

At this, Iroh shuddered visibly, "I was in that area once, and the chill down there was incredible, I felt I was frozen to the bone for weeks after. For a fire bender, this is not a comfortable feeling. As you might well imagine."

Zecora laughed appreciatively. "To leave such an impression the cold must be most grim, to send such as you there must be like teaching a gryphon to swim!"

Iroh was confused. "A gryphon? What in the world is that?"

"I promise biology class later, if we do geography now." Zecora chided, "I will teach what I can then, of anything from parasprite to cow."

On hearing Zecora's tone, Iroh immediately sat up with his feet pressed together and held between his hands, his back ramrod straight. "Yes, Miss Zecora." He said in his best schoolboy tone of voice, before throwing his head back in laughter, joined half a second later by Zecora.

"Oh dear," Zecora said between gasps for breath a minute later, "be it between towns, nations or worlds most strange; it seems the relationship of teacher to the student shall never change."

"So it seems, my dear, so it seems. Now where was I? Oh yes. Encompassing the vast majority of the world to the North and East of all those lands, is the massive continent that is primarily populated by the Earth Kingdom. the South-East corner of the continent has the Eastern Air Temple, while the Northern Air Temple sits atop a mountain on its northernmost edge."

Iroh perked up as he finished his brief description. "Finally, there is a second frozen land to the north of that where the Northern Water Tribe makes its home."

"Let me see if I remember this right, and affix your lands in my mind's sight." Zecora reached for her dust again, blowing out a low cloud and smoothing down the top so she could work with it piece by piece.

"Let's start with the biggest, this Earth Kingdom land. Upon biggest land mass, does it now stand." Part of the flattened smoke raised under Zecora's guidance, showing a roughly circular shape.

Getting the idea, Iroh half stood, resting his weight on his knees, rather than on his whole leg. "Flatten the land across here." he indicated, pointing along a line that cut off a porting along the bottom left side of the circle.

"Now a large bay here, on the right, but leave only this portion open to the sea."

"Two lakes here, with a thin strip of land separating them. And finally raise a large circle _here_," he indicated an area using his hands, "This is where the great walled city of Ba Sing Se is."

"And now the water tribes, both high and low. What shapes are their lands, do you know?"

"Roughly oval if I recall correctly, the North tribe here, and the South tribe all the way down here. While we are at it, some streaky islands starting here," Iroh indicated a spot not far from the large bay on the large continent, "and ending about here." At this he pointed to a spot above and to the right of the southern island.

"Last but not least," Iroh said with a grin, "A chain of islands starting about here, and growing larger until here, and then a much larger island, here."

Iroh and Zecora sat back to observe their collaborative cartography. It was rough, incredibly so, but at least gave an impression of what the lands looked like.

Zecora looked up from studying their makeshift map. "I looked at these shapes and I can say with little fear, that wherever you are from, it is most certainly not here."

Stepping to the side so she was clear of their work, Zecora withdrew a second hoofful of powder and shaped a second image.

A long, snaking continent formed before Iroh's eyes, another smaller continent rose in the Southeast corner. Finally several large islands formed in the Northwest, one of them incongruously separated from the map and started _floating_ a couple of inches above the plane of the map.

"Here is the world as we know it, from mountain to shore. From Zebrica to Vaporia, and the Ibex Empire to Boardor."

This map was significantly more detailed than the one Iroh had dictated, and his eyes darted across the map, looking for a familiar landmark – _any_ familiar landmark.

"This... This looks nothing like any map I am familiar with. Given that my arrival in these lands is unexplained, also that I somehow moved from here," Iroh indicate a spot on his own map, just below the Western lake on the main continent, "to here… uhh, my apologies, but where exactly are we?"

"You see this peninsula, here in the middle? Go about a hoofspan above to solve your riddle. At least now we know one thing for certain to start, your most recent journey has set you worlds apart."

"That it has, that it has indeed…" Iroh's worried frown deepened.

"I will have to meditate on this in the morning. With any luck I will be able to contact the spirit world and get some advice from there."

At this, Iroh clapped his hands together in an effort to dispel his sour mood, making Zecora jump slightly at the noise. "In the meantime, seeing as you have explained some of your native abilities, I see it as only fair that I should do the same."

"As you can probably guess from having watched me, I am a practitioner of the Fire Bending Style. Fire is considered to be the element of passion, destruction, and power; it is the element most heavily influenced by the emotions of its user. Of the four main styles, fire benders are known to be the most aggressive, although we practice some of the greatest self control."

Iroh sighed as he realized he would have to broach a difficult topic in this discussion, and so decided to get it over with sooner, rather than later.

"Our natural neighbors, both geographically and spiritually, were the air benders. From what we know of them today, every one of them was capable of bending, something none of the other 3 great nations could claim. They lived austere lives in their four great temples, moving between each according to their progress in learning their ways.

"The air benders were the only nation that used its abilities in a primarily defensive way, and the only people who used no lethal moves in combat at all. Their methods leaned heavily towards evasion and speed, they used, almost exclusively, circular motions in their techniques, never coming at a problem in a straight line."

Zecora caught the sadness in Iroh's voice as well as the tense he spoke of the air benders in. "You speak of air benders with such guilt, pray tell, why does their tale make you wilt?"

"The short version is that almost a hundred years ago, the Air Nomads were all but wiped out in a war. As far as I am aware, there is a single air bender left alive today, and he is nothing more than a boy. The long version I suspect will have to wait as the reasons for their death involves information I have yet to give you." Iroh evaded as best he could, hoping to push back the shameful and gory details until absolutely necessary.

It still disgusted Iroh to think of the pain and death inflicted by his own people.

* * *

Meanwhile, a pair of mares approached the house set within the tree. One of the mares' ears twitched as she heard the sound of voices coming from within.

"Who's that with Zecora?" wondered Bonbon, "Sounds like a stallion, but I don't recognise the voice."

"I have no idea," grumbled Lyra, "I just want to get rid of this stupid headache, then get back to town. Can we just get the potion and leave Zecora to her coltfriend?"

Bonbon giggled lightly at her friend as she approached the door and knocked.

The sound of a chair's legs scraping was heard shortly before the resident zebra opened her door.

"My, my, I am so popular today. May I ask what brings you two mares out this way?"

Bonbon smiled awkwardly at Zecora. "I hope you don't mind, we were wondering if you could sell us a potion or two for headaches? Please?"

"All this way for such a simple remedy? Very well. Come and I shall cure what ails you mentally." Zecora backed away from her door and retrieved a small cauldron on her way to the fireplace.

Iroh sat and watched placidly as the new arrivals entered the room, one looking around curiously while the other had her eyes mostly closed, her nose scrunched in discomfort, evidently the one who needed the headache cure.

"Strange, I thought I heard you talking to somepony when we got here…" the alert pony half muttered. Zecora glanced at Iroh who winked back before schooling his features and sitting as still as he could.

"You do know that nosiness is a disgrace," Zecora chided Bonbon, "but as you can plainly see, you are the only ponies in this place."

"Hard to tell with all of these masks around sometimes." Bonbon groused before she spotted something new in the room.

"What about this?" she asked, reaching a hoof towards Iroh's head, "I've never seen a statue like this one before, where did you get it?"

"Oh, she just picked me up in the woods…" Iroh rumbled from his place next to Bonbon, her hoof pressed against his ear.

"Really? Must have been a really lucky…. AAAAAHHH!" Bonbon shrieked and stumbled backwards as she realized the 'statue' she had been prodding her was the one who answered, and _not_ Zecora.

There was a moment of silence.

Bonbon scooted backwards, her hung mouth open in surprise and her forehoof shook as she pointed it at Iroh.

Zecora turned her head to peer over her shoulder and away from the water she had just set to heat over a small fire pit, one corner of her mouth rising in a smirk of amusement.

Iroh smiled widely as he tilted his head toward the surprised earth pony, a chuckle beginning to bubble forth.

Lyra swung her head painfully to face the direction of the scream that had come from Bonbon, her eyes landed on Iroh for the first time and widened as she realized just who and what was sitting right in front of her.


End file.
